International standard classification of occupation

The International Standard Classification of Occupations has been developed by the International Labour Office to provide a basis for the international comparison of occupa tional data and to afford guidance to countries wishing to develop or improve their systems of occupational classification. It is the result of a number of years of work by the Inter national Labour Office, which has at every stage systematically consulted the govern ments and interested agencies and sought the counsel of occupational specialists throughout the world.

In particular, its preparation was actively assisted by the International Conference of Labour Statisticians, which meets under the auspices of the International Labour Organisation. In 1949 the Seventh Conference recognised nine "major groups" of occupations; these, with certain modifications, constitute the basic framework of the present system. The Eighth Conference (1954) adopted a provisional list of minor groups. Three years later the Ninth Conference endorsed the major, minor and unit groups of the present system and urged countries to make occupational information available in conformity with the resulting classification.¹

The classification has been designed as a comprehensive, multi-purpose instrument for use in the organisation of occupational information. It is composed of definitions of occupations and of groups of occupations embodied in a corresponding classification structure. The latter was designed with a twofold aim in view; its general groupings are intended to facilitate the classification of statistics derived from labour force inquiries, particularly population censuses, while the final subdivisions are calculated to meet the requirements of employment placement for a more detailed classification.