ISCO
revision
Michael Mietzner
Eurostat
Eurostat
Introduction
• The
updated
International
Standard
Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08) was
adopted by a Tripartite Meeting of Experts in
Labour Statistics in December 2007.
• ISCO-08 was endorsed by the Governing
Body of the International Labour Organization
in March 2008.
• The aim was that the updated classification, or
national adaptations of it, would be available
for use in the 2010 round of national
population censuses.
2
Why was ISCO updated?
• Recent ISIC revision - similar revision cycle for ISCO since
1958
• ISCO-88 was 20 years old!
• Global economy has changed significantly (ICT etc.)
• ISCO-88 was not perfect and we have learned meantime
• Experiences gained at national level
3
Revision time schedule
34th session of the UN Statistical
Commission 3/2003
First round of questionnaires 122004
Second round of questionnaires (92006)
Set up of Technical Expert Group for
updating ISCO (TEG/ISCO) – 3/2005
1st meeting (TEG/ISCO) – 11/2005
2nd meeting (TEG/ISCO) – 7/2006
3rd meeting (TEG/ISCO) – 12/2006
Final draft adopted by a Tripartite
Meeting of Experts in Labour
Statistics 12-2007
Endorsement to the Governing
Body of the International Labour
Organization 3/2008
4th meeting (TEG/ISCO) – 4/2007
What is different in ISCO-08?
Major group
Sub-major groups
Minor groups
Unit groups
1 Managers, senior officials and
legislators
4 (3)
11(8)
30 (33)
2 Professionals
6 (4)
27(18)
92 (55)
3 Technicians and associate
professionals
5 (4)
21
84 (73)
4 Clerks
4 (2)
8 (7)
29 (23)
5 Service and sales workers
4 (2)
13 (9)
40 (23)
2
6 (6)
15 (17)
5 (4)
14 (16)
66 (70)
3
14 (20)
44 (70)
9 Elementary occupations
6 (3)
11 (10)
33 (25)
0 Armed forces occupations
3 (1)
3 (1)
3 (1)
42 (28)
128 (116)
436 (390)
6 Skilled agricultural, fishery, and forestry
workers
7 Craft and related trades workers
8 Plant and machine operators, and
assemblers
Total ISCO-08 (ISCO-88)
5
General principles
Skill level
• The nature of the work performed has been given more
emphasis than the formal education and training required in
determining the skill level of an occupation.
• Jobs requiring similar tasks or skills should be always
grouped together, regardless of:
 Qualifications held or required.
 The industry in which the job is held.
7
Skill level
• No need for parallel groups in different major groups to
cater for cases where the education and training
requirements for a particular occupational group differ
between countries.
 Virtually all teaching occupations are classified in
sub-major group 24, teaching professionals.
 Nurses are classified in major groups 2 or 3
depending on tasks performed and not on
qualifications alone.
 Note: Due to differences in national practice and
legislation it is not unlikely that all nurses in one
country are classified in Major Group 2 and in
another country they are all in Major Group 3.
• Elements of industry or sector classification should be
avoided.
8
Detail level
• Efforts have been made to ensure that the level of detail
provided is appropriate and useful considering the main
purposes of an international classification.
• Given the nature of the occupational distribution of the
labour market at international level, the issues of the size
of groups and different levels of detail in different parts of
the classification, were important, but not overriding,
considerations.
• Minor groups and sub-major groups that are very small in
all countries should be avoided.
• Changes made to reflect changing structure of work force.
9
International comparability and consistency
• Concerns that it is not feasible to make
distinctions between certain categories in ISCO88 on a consistent basis internationally (data
collected in a census or in surveys.
• Adjustments have been made that aim to
improve
international
comparability
and
consistency of reporting.
 Example: Managers in agriculture
10
Basic changes
Corporate managers vs. general
managers
• Reorganisation of managerial occupations in major group 1.
• The sections of the classification dealing with managerial
occupations have been reorganised, so as to overcome
problems with the distinction between corporate managers
and general managers experienced by users of ISCO-88.
12
ICT (Information and Communication
Technology)
• Major updating and expansion of occupations in information
and communications technology:
 2 new sub-major groups in major groups 2 and 3.
 Allowing for the identification of professional and
associate professional occupations in this field at
the second level of the classification.
13
Health services occupations
• Improved coverage and upgrading of health services
occupations:
 Identifiable at sub-major group level in major
groups 2 and 3 and at minor group level in major
group 5, sales and service workers.
 providing sufficient detail to allow ISCO-08 to be
used as the basis for the international reporting of
data on the health work force to the World Health
Organisation
and
other
international
and
intergovernmental organisations.
14
Clerical support workers
• Reorganisation of the section of the classification dealing
with office clerks:
 Impact of information and communications
technology.
 Increase from 2 to 4 sub-major groups in major
group 4, clerical support workers.
 Providing more meaningful detail for occupations
in which large numbers of women are employed.
15
Sales and service workers
• Reorganisation of the aggregate groupings for sales and
service workers:
 Increase from 2 to 4 sub-major groups in major
group 5.
 Includes new groups at the second level of the
classification for personal service, personal care
and protective services workers.
16
Agricultural workers
• More detailed categories and greater clarity for some
occupational groups involved in agriculture:
 Farmers and farm managers are, with some
exceptions, classified in major group 6.
 Provision is made to allow separate identification
at the second level of the classification of skilled
agricultural workers from forestry, fishery and
hunting workers.
17
Customer service occupations
• More detailed categories are available for
occupations involved in the provision of
information and services to clients, including
those related to tourism.
18
Plant and machine operators
• The groups for plant and machine operators have been
rationalised, in response to concerns that this part of ISCO88 was excessively detailed and out-of-date in some areas.
• Rationalisation and restructuring of groups for plant and
machine operators:
 Some reduction of detail considered excessive by
many observers.
 New minor group for process control operators in
major group 3.
19
Informal sector
• Extended coverage of occupations that are significant
in the informal sector:
 Associated increase in the number of submajor groups in ISCO major group 9,
elementary occupations from 3 to 6.
20
Alternative groupings
• Thematic (or alternative) groupings will be
provided based primarily on the goods or services
produced, independently of skill level.
21
13-Jul-07
Major Group 0
• Stable in time
• Representing 0.66% of total EU employment
• But nevertheless problematic
22
Scope of the armed forces
2 problems:
• In many countries, it is not possible to produce
information about the nature of the work
performed by members of the armed forces.
• Difficulty in drawing a borderline between “real
military occupations” and “military occupations
similar to civilian jobs”. Where to classify a
military truck driver, a human resource officer,
operators of electronic military equipment?
Nowadays probably most of the military
occupations have somehow equivalents in civil
life.
23
Scope of the armed forces
Cooks
Secretaries
Military forces
trained for combat
Kitchen
staff
Doctors
24
Drivers
Uncommon occupations in the EU
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
25
Traditional chiefs and heads of village
Water and firewood collectors
Subsistence crop farmers
Subsistence livestock farmers
Subsistence fishers, hunters, trappers and gatherers
Paramedical practitioners
Subsistence mixed crop and livestock farmers
Scribes and related workers
Community health workers
Medical records and health information technicians
Medical assistants
Uncommon occupations in the EU
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hunters and trappers
Drivers of animal-drawn vehicles and machinery
Midwifery associate professionals
Hand and pedal vehicle drivers
House builders
Nursing associate professionals
Traditional and complementary medicine associate
professionals
• Companions and valets
• Tobacco preparers and tobacco products makers
26
Translations of ISCO-08
• English structure, definitions and correspondence table
available
on
ILO
website
on
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/stat/isco/isco08/i
ndex.htm
• French translation in the process of being finalised.
• German translations available at Statistics Austria website
on
http://www.statistik.at/web_de/klassifikationen/oeisco08_i
mplementierung/informationen_zur_isco08/index.html
• Russian translation available on the ILO website on
http://www.ilo.org/public/russian/region/eurpro/moscow/ar
eas/isco.htm
• Comments on the draft are still welcome!
27
Implementation
Developing or adapting national
classifications based on ISCO
• Adopt ISCO directly for national use
• Much less than ideal
• Some small countries with limited resources have no
other choice
• Collaborating with similar neighbouring countries may
be an option
• Adapt ISCO to suit national circumstances
• A popular choice
• National occupation classification (NOC) not based on ISCO
• A common situation for countries with own tradition or
history of occupation classification
• May make adjustments to national classification to
improve comparability with ISCO or take advantages of
new features in ISCO
29
Adopting ISCO directly for national use
• Some work at national level still required
• Translate to national language(s) if necessary
• Identify where national occupational groups/titles
fit
Eg for nursing occupations
• Develop national index of occupational titles
Needed to code responses in statistical and other data collections
ISCO index can be adapted but national index should be based on terms used
in your country
• Methods for implementation in national collections
Questions, coding procedures, presentation of output
30
Adapt ISCO to suit national circumstances:
(1) Starting from scratch
• In addition to everything on the last slide:
• Decide at what level of ISCO-08 you will provide
internationally comparable data (Eg 3 or 4 digits)
• Collapse ISCO categories that are too detailed for
national requirements
Eg by making a minor group into a unit group.
• Create more detailed categories where needed to suit
national labour market, user requirements:
By adapting the 4th level or creating a 5th level
• Adjust the classification code structure as needed while
maintaining correspondence table with ISCO-08
• Create a national index of occupations containing both
NOC and ISCO codes
• Develop definitions of new or changed categories
• Review and amend ISCO-08 definitions to ensure
national relevance
31
Eg lists of included occupations
Adapt ISCO to suit national circumstances:
(2) Existing national classification
• In addition to almost everything on the previous
two slides:
• Map old classification to ISCO-08 and identify
features of each you want to retain or not use, to
create a new national classification structure
•
•
For national classifications based on ISCO-88 the ISCO correspondence
table will be a useful tool
National features from old classification you want to retain are reflected
within an overall framework based on ISCO-08
• Develop correspondence tables between old and
new
• Update index of occupational titles
•
32
Consider need for 3 or 4 code sets
National occupation classification not
based on ISCO
• Understand what your users need
• Identify features of ISCO-08 that you want to
incorporate in NOC
• Adjust NOC structure to facilitate reporting to
ISCO and incorporate new features
• Develop correspondence table and possibly dualor tri-coded index.
33
Occupation – information needed for coding
• For accurate coding to any level of ISCO (and
related national classifications) information is
needed on:
• Name or title of occupation
• Main tasks or duties usually performed in the job
• The following may information may also be useful
• The type of economic activity of the establishment
(industry)
• Whether or not the main aim of the activity is own
consumption (subsistence)
• Information about the level of skill or
qualifications of an individual is not necessary
and not useful
34