Chapter 14 - Occupations

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the occupational codes used in the United States and Canada. The Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) began in 1939, which was used by the US Employment Service to match jobs and job seekers. The DOT was replaced by O*NET that has a more modern taxonomy of jobs. However, DOT has still survived as the Social Security Administration is still using it for disability claims. O*Net is related to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes used by the US Department of Labor and as it classifies jobs in job families, so it is less useful for determining disability eligibility or job-specific benefits analysis. This scheme has 23 major groups encoded by the leading two digits and refined by four more digits after a dash. Within these major groups are 96 minor groups, 449 broad occupations, and 821 detailed occupations. Occupations with similar skills or work activities are grouped at each of the four levels of hierarchy to facilitate comparisons. The National Occupational Classification (NOC) serves the same purpose for the labor market in Canada. It is a four-digit code based on skill type in the left-most digits and skill level on the right side of the code. This system is used by Job Futures, the widely used source of information about occupational outlooks, and the national JobBank®, which provides an electronic listing of jobs, work, or business opportunities.