Executive Office of the President January 21, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under the authority of the Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 1104(d)) and the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3504(e)), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is presenting in this notice its final decisions for revising the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) for 2010. The SOC is designed to reflect the current occupational structure of the United States; it classifies all occupations in which work is performed for pay or profit. The SOC covers all jobs in the national economy, including occupations in the public, private, and military sectors. All Federal agencies that publish occupational data for statistical purposes are required to use the SOC; State and local government agencies are strongly encouraged to use this national system to promote a common language for categorizing and analyzing occupations. In two prior Federal Register notices regarding the 2010 SOC (May 16, 2006, 71 FR 28536-28538; and May 22, 2008, 73 FR 29930-29939), OMB and its interagency Standard Occupational Classification Policy Committee (SOCPC) requested comment on the revision process, classification principles and guidelines, corrections to the 2000 SOC Manual, the intention to retain the 2000 SOC Major Group structure, and changes to the existing occupations. OMB, in conjunction with the SOCPC, reviewed and carefully considered the comments received in response to these notices in the process of making its final decisions presented in this notice. Based on these final decisions, OMB has requested that the SOCPC prepare the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification Manual for publication. A complete crosswalk between the 2000 and the 2010 SOC will be available online after publication of the 2010 SOC Manual. Committee members have completed definitions and agencies with occupational classification systems are developing crosswalks from their existing systems to the 2010 SOC. In comparison to the 2000 SOC, the 2010 SOC realized a net gain of 19 detailed occupations, 12 broad occupations, and 1 minor group. The number of major groups is unchanged. The 2010 SOC system contains 840 detailed occupations, aggregated into 461 broad occupations. In turn, the SOC combines these 461 broad occupations into 97 minor groups and 23 major groups. More than 400 of the 840 detailed occupations in the 2010 SOC structure remained the same as in 2000, and over 300 others required only editing changes. Therefore, no substantive changes occurred in occupational coverage for about 4 out of 5 detailed occupations in the 2010 SOC. As an indicator of the scope of changes to the structure of the SOC, 8 detailed occupations moved from one major group in the 2000 SOC to another in the 2010 SOC. Three occupations were placed in the major group 13-0000 Business and Financial Operations Occupations, including ``Farm Labor Contractors'' (13-1074)previously classified in major group 45-0000 Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupationsand ``Fundraisers'' (13-1131)previously classified in major group 41-0000 Sales and Related Occupations. Workers in ``Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists'' (13-1161) were previously classified in multiple SOC occupations including in ``Market Research Analysts'' in major group 19-0000 Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations and in ``Public Relations Specialists'' in major group 27-0000 Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations. Two occupations moved into the major group 53-0000 Transportation and Material Moving Occupations, both from major group 39-0000 Personal Care and Service Occupations. These were ``Flight Attendants'' (53-2031) and ``Transportation Attendants, Except Flight Attendants'' (53-6061). Workers in the newly created ``Morticians, Undertakers, and Funeral Directors'' (39-4031) were previously classified with ``Funeral Directors'' (11-9061) in the major group 11-0000 Management Occupations. Workers in another occupation new to the 2010 SOC, ``Solar Photovoltaic Installers'' (47-2231) were previously classified in multiple SOC occupations including two in major group 49-0000 Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations, ``Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers'' (49-9021) and ``Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers, All Other'' (49- 9099). Lastly, the detailed occupation ``Emergency Management Directors'' (11-9161) was previously classified in major group 13-0000 Business and Financial Operations Occupations, under the title ``Emergency Management Specialists.'' Future activities: To ensure that the successful efforts of the SOCPC continue and that the SOC reflects the structure of the changing workforce, the SOCPC will continue its service as a standing committee. The SOCPC will meet periodically to monitor the implementation of the 2010 SOC across Federal agencies. This consultation will include regularly scheduled interagency communication to ensure a smooth transition to the 2010 SOC. The SOCPC will also perform SOC maintenance functions, such as recommending clarifications of the SOC occupational definitions, placement of new occupations within the existing structure, and updating title files. The next major review and revision of the SOC is expected to begin in 2013, in preparation for a 2018 SOC. The intent of this revision schedule is to minimize disruption to data providers, producers, and users by promoting simultaneous adoption of revised occupational and industry classification systems for those data series that use both. Given the multiple interdependent programs that rely on the SOC, this is best accomplished by timing revisions of the SOC for the years following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) revisions, which occur for years ending in 2 and 7. The next such year is 2018, which has the additional benefit of coinciding with the beginning year of the American Community Survey five-year set of surveys that bracket the 2020 Decennial Census. Thus, OMB intends to consider revisions of the SOC for 2018 and every 10 years thereafter. Appendices: This notice includes three appendices in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Appendix A presents the adopted changes to the SOC Classification Principles. Appendix B provides a preliminary crosswalk between the occupation codes in the 2000 SOC and the revised codes for the 2010 SOC. Appendix C provides a preliminary crosswalk between the revised codes for the 2010 SOC and the 2000 SOC. Appendices B and C show only new occupations and occupations where a change was made to a title or code. The complete 2010 SOC structure is available on the Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site at https://www.bls.gov/soc/home.htm. Electronic Availability: This document is available on the Internet from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at https://www.bls.gov/soc/home.htm. This Web page contains links to previous SOC Federal Register notices and related documents, as well as the full 2010 SOC structure. To obtain this notice via e-mail, please send a message requesting the OMB SOC final decisions Federal Register notice to soc@bls.gov. After publication of the manual, inquiries about the definitions for particular occupations or requests for electronic copies of the SOC structure that cannot be satisfied by use of the Web site should be addressed to Theresa Cosca, Standard Occupational Classification Policy Committee, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 2135, Washington, DC 20212; e-mail: soc@bls.gov; telephone number: (202) 691-6500; fax number: (202) 691-6444.