82 FR 56271 - Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System-Revision for 2018

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 227 (November 28, 2017)

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announces its final decision for the 2018 revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 10, Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). More details on these revisions are presented in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below and on https://www.bls.gov/SOC/.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 227 (Tuesday, November 28, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56271-56273]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25622]


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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET


Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) System--Revision for 
2018

AGENCY: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and 
Budget.

ACTION: Notice of 2018 Standard Occupational Classification final 
decisions.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announces its final 
decision for the 2018 revision of Statistical Policy Directive No. 10, 
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). More details on these 
revisions are presented in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below 
and on https://www.bls.gov/SOC/.

DATES: Effective date: Federal statistical agencies will begin using 
the 2018 SOC for occupational data they publish for reference years 
beginning on or after January 1, 2018. Electronic publication of the 
2018 Standard Occupational Classification Manual is planned following 
the publication of this notice.
    The 2018 SOC was designed and developed solely for statistical 
purposes. Readers interested in the effective dates for the use of the 
2018 SOC for non-statistical purposes should contact the relevant 
agency to determine the agency's plans, if any, for a transition from 
the 2010 SOC to the 2018 SOC.

ADDRESSES: Correspondence about the adoption and implementation of the 
SOC as described in this Federal Register notice should be sent to: 
Nancy A. Potok, U.S. Chief Statistician, New Executive Office Building, 
Washington, DC 20503, email [email protected]. Inquiries about the 
definitions for particular occupations that cannot be satisfied by use 
of the Web site should be addressed to Standard Occupational 
Classification Policy Committee, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 
2135, Washington, DC 20212; email: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Park, Senior Statistician, 
New Executive Office Building, Washington, DC 20503, email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under 31 U.S.C. 1104(d) and 44 U.S.C. 
3504(e), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announces its final 
decision for the 2018 revision of Statistical Policy

[[Page 56272]]

Directive No. 10, Standard Occupational Classification (SOC).
    The SOC classifies all occupations for which work is performed for 
pay or profit. It covers all jobs in the national economy, including 
occupations in the public, private, and military sectors. In this way, 
the SOC is designed to reflect the current occupational composition of 
the United States.
    The SOC supports efficiency and effectiveness of the Federal 
statistical system by providing a standard for occupation-based 
statistical data classification and thereby ensuring comparability of 
these data across Federal statistical agencies. Accordingly, 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.
    Consistent with good statistical practice, these classifications 
are reviewed and revised periodically to ensure relevance and accuracy. 
Prior Federal Register notices requested public comment regarding the 
2018 revision to the SOC (May 22, 2014, 79 FR 29620-29624; and July 22, 
2016, 81 FR 48306-&48310). The Standard Occupational Classification 
Policy Committee (SOCPC, a Federal interagency technical working group) 
carefully reviewed comments received in preparing its recommendations. 
OMB carefully considered these recommendations when making the 
decisions presented in this notice. OMB has requested that the SOCPC 
prepare the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification Manual for 
publication online reflecting these final decisions. The 2018 SOC 
Manual, a complete crosswalk between the 2010 and 2018 SOC, and other 
supporting materials will be available online at https://www.bls.gov/SOC/ following publication of this notice.
    Future activities: To ensure that the SOC continues to reflect the 
structure of the changing workforce in a timely and accurate manner, 
the SOCPC will serve as a standing committee. The SOCPC will meet 
periodically to monitor and maintain the implementation of the 2018 
SOC, such as recommending, as needed, clarification of SOC occupational 
definitions, placement of new occupations within the existing 
structure, and updating title files.
    Electronic Availability: This document is available at https://www.bls.gov/SOC/. The Web page contains links to previous SOC Federal 
Register notices and related documents, the full 2018 SOC structure and 
definitions, principles and guidelines, and other supporting materials, 
including the full 2018 SOC Manual.

Purpose and History of the SOC

    The U.S. Federal statistical system is highly decentralized, with 
13 principal Federal statistical agencies that have statistical 
activities as their primary mission and approximately 115 other 
agencies that carry out statistical activities in conjunction with 
other missions such as providing services, conducting research, or 
implementing laws and regulations. OMB coordinates the Federal 
statistical system by developing and overseeing the implementation of 
Government-wide principles, policies, standards, and guidelines 
concerning the presentation and dissemination of statistical 
information. These coordination efforts promote the efficiency and 
effectiveness of the Federal statistical system. One such standard for 
statistical data classification established by OMB is Statistical 
Policy Directive No. 10, Standard Occupational Classification (SOC), 
which ensures consistency of occupation-based statistical data 
classification across Federal statistical activities.
    The SOC system classifies all occupations in the economy, including 
private, public, and military occupations, to facilitate comparability 
across occupational data produced for statistical purposes by Federal 
agencies. The SOC is designed to reflect the current occupational 
composition in the U.S. and to cover all occupations in which work is 
performed for pay or profit. Information about occupations-- such as 
employment levels and projections, pay and benefits, skills required, 
and demographic characteristics of job holders--is widely used by 
individuals, businesses, researchers, educators, and public policy-
makers.
    The SOC is designed exclusively for statistical purposes. Although 
the SOC may also be used for various non-statistical purposes (e.g., 
for administrative, regulatory, or taxation functions), the 
requirements of government agencies, businesses, or private users that 
choose to use the SOC for non-statistical purposes play no role in the 
development or revision of the SOC. The appropriateness of using the 
SOC for non-statistical purposes must be evaluated on a case-by-case 
basis.
    The SOC was first issued in 1977. To reflect changes in the economy 
and in the nature of work, the SOC must be revised periodically. Prior 
to the 2000 SOC, the SOC was not widely used across Federal data 
collections. With the implementation of the 2000 SOC, all major 
occupational data collections in the Federal statistical system 
provided comparable data, greatly improving the utility of the data. 
The SOC has been revised four times since its inception: 1980, 2000, 
2010, and this 2018 revision.
    A new feature was introduced in the 2010 SOC: The Direct Match 
Title File. This feature lists job titles associated with detailed SOC 
occupations. Each of these titles directly matches to a single SOC 
detailed occupation (i.e., one-to-one mappings, where all workers with 
the job title listed in the Direct Match Title File are classified into 
exactly one detailed SOC occupation code). The Direct Match Title File 
has been updated for 2018.

2018 Revision for the SOC--Overview of the Revision Process

    The formal 2018 SOC revision process was initiated by OMB and the 
SOCPC through a request for public comment in a May 22, 2014, Federal 
Register notice (79 FR 29620). The 2018 revision process included two 
requests for public comment, review of the public comments by the SOCPC 
following each request, and the SOCPC making recommendations to OMB on 
the suite of 2018 revisions. The SOCPC created eight workgroups to 
carry out the bulk of the revision effort and examine occupations by 
groups of Major Groups. These workgroups were charged with reviewing 
the public comments received in response to each of the Federal 
Register notices and providing recommendations for addressing these 
comments to the SOCPC. The workgroups and the SOCPC made 
recommendations guided by the SOC Classification Principles and Coding 
Guidelines (available at https://www.bls.gov/SOC/). Following each 
review of public comments, the workgroups made recommendations by 
consensus to the SOCPC, the SOCPC reviewed the workgroup 
recommendations and made their own recommendations by consensus. The 
SOCPC sent their recommendations to OMB after reviewing both sets of 
public comments. These recommendations led to the creation of new 
occupations, revised occupational titles and definitions, and changes 
to the structure and placement of individual occupations.
    The May 22, 2014, Federal Register notice requested public comments 
on (1) the proposed new Classification Principle to the 2010 SOC 
Classification Principles emphasizing the importance of maintaining 
time series continuity:

[[Page 56273]]

``To maximize the comparability of data, time series continuity is 
maintained to the extent possible;'' (2) the intention to retain the 
2010 SOC Coding Guidelines; (3) the intention to retain the 2010 SOC 
Major Group structure; (4) proposals for the correction, change, or 
combination of 2010 SOC detailed occupations; and (5) proposals for new 
detailed occupations. The comment period for the May 22, 2014, Federal 
Register notice closed on July 21, 2014. Approximately 300 public 
comments were received in response to this May 22, 2014, notice.
    OMB published the SOCPC interim recommendations in the July 22, 
2016, Federal Register (81 FR 48306) requesting public comment on: (1) 
The 2018 SOC Classification Principles and Coding Guidelines 
recommended by the SOCPC; (2) the proposed hierarchical structure of 
the 2018 SOC, including changes to the major, minor, broad, and 
detailed occupation groups; (3) the titles, placement, and codes of new 
occupations that the SOCPC recommended be added in the revised 2018 
SOC; and (4) preliminary definitions for revised and proposed 2018 SOC 
occupations. In conjunction with the publication of the July 22, 2016, 
Federal Register notice, rationales for the recommended changes in 
response to specific comments from the May 22, 2014, Federal Register 
notice were made available on the SOC Web site at https://www.bls.gov/SOC/. More than 6,300 public comments were received in response to the 
July 22, 2016, Federal Register notice.
    The SOCPC's final recommendations of additional changes to the SOC 
structures and definitions were shared with OMB in a report; this 
report will be available at https://www.bls.gov/SOC/.

Public Comments

    Each of the more than 6,300 individual public comments in response 
to the July 22, 2016, Federal Register notice received a unique docket 
number when received and similar dockets were reviewed simultaneously 
by the workgroups and the SOCPC. In total, approximately 223 unique 
issues were identified in commenters' correspondence. The SOCPC's full 
set of responses to the comments received in response to the July 22, 
2016, Federal Register notice will be available at https://www.bls.gov/SOC/.
    In some cases, the SOCPC recommended changes to the 2018 SOC based 
on input from member agencies and workgroups, separate from the public 
comment process. Changes to titles and definitions that resulted do not 
necessarily alter occupational coverage, but rather refine how 
occupations are described. For example, the SOCPC recommended accepting 
the internal suggestion for a different title, ``Radiologic 
Technologists and Technicians'' (29-2034) in place of the former 2010 
SOC title, ``Radiologic Technologists.''
    Many proposed new occupations were found to be already covered in 
the definition of an existing SOC occupation, resulting in no SOCPC 
recommended change or a SOCPC recommended change for clarification to 
the title or definition.

2018 Revision for the SOC--OMB Decision

    The SOCPC's final recommendations for the 2018 revision to the SOC 
included a number of significant changes, including new occupations. 
Many recommended changes modified occupations' titles and definitions 
to appropriately reflect technological advancements within the 
occupations. Significant recommended updates were recommended in the 
management, business, finance, information technology, engineering, 
social science, education, media, healthcare, personal care, 
extraction, and transportation occupations.
    Through this notice, OMB announces its final decisions regarding 
the 2018 revision to the SOC. OMB's final decision is to adopt all of 
the SOCPC's final recommendations with the exception of one. The SOCPC 
recommended no change to the title of the 2010 SOC occupation 43-5031 
Police, Fire, and Ambulance Dispatchers for the 2018 revision. OMB has 
decided not to accept the SOCPC's recommendation in this case and to 
change the title of the 2010 SOC occupation 43-5031 Police, Fire, and 
Ambulance Dispatchers to 43-5031 Public Safety Telecommunicators for 
the 2018 revision to the SOC. OMB made this decision to reflect better 
the full scope of occupations organized under this title. All other 
SOCPC recommendations are adopted as part of OMB's final decision on 
the 2018 revision to the SOC and are outlined on the SOC Web site at 
https://www.bls.gov/SOC/; the final 2018 SOC will be published in the 
online 2018 SOC Manual following publication of this notice.
    Compared to the 2010 SOC, the 2018 SOC realized a net gain of 27 
detailed occupations and 1 minor group. The net number of broad 
occupations fell by 2 and the number of major groups remained 
unchanged. The 2018 SOC system contains 867 detailed occupations, 
aggregated into 459 broad occupations. In turn, the SOC combines these 
459 broad occupations into 98 minor groups and 23 major groups. Of the 
867 detailed occupations in the 2018 structure, 472 remained unchanged 
from 2010. Seventy detailed occupations are new to the 2018 SOC. 
Additional details describing the 2018 revisions are available on the 
SOC Web site at https://www.bls.gov/SOC/.

Next Steps

    Implementation: Federal statistical agencies will implement the 
2018 SOC as soon as is practical after its publication with the 
earliest implementations corresponding to collections with reference 
timeframes on or after January 1, 2018.
    Maintaining currency. The SOCPC will continue to meet periodically 
following publication of the 2018 SOC Manual, particularly to consider 
new and emerging occupations and additional titles for the Direct Match 
Title File.
    SOC users are reminded that the SOC coding system is designed to 
allow for delineation of occupations below the detailed occupation 
level for parties wishing to collect additional levels of detail, as 
stated in Coding Guideline 3, available at https://www.bls.gov/SOC/. 
OMB recommends that those needing extra detail consider using the 
structure of the Department of Labor's Employment and Training 
Administration's Occupational Information Network (O*NET), which adds a 
decimal point and additional digit (s) after the sixth digit of SOC 
codes.

Richard P. Theroux,
Acting Deputy Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2017-25622 Filed 11-27-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3110-01-P