The NOC - What Does It Mean and Do?
The NOC system is based on categorizing occupations by their evaluated skill level and skill type. Each NOC code consists of four digits. The first digit denotes the occupation's skill type; the second denotes the occupation's skill level. Combined, these two digits define the NOC "Major Group" for all occupations with the same skill level and skill type. The final two digits are employed to narrow, or "drill down", to a specific occupational group. The third digit, combined with the "Major Group", defines the "Minor Group". The fourth digit identifies even further the specific occupation within the "Minor Group", referred to as the NOC "Unit Group".
NOC Digits |
Dissecting the NOC Coding System
Example: NOC Code 1242, Legal Secretaries |
| 1 |
The first digit represents the skill type. In this example it is skill type 1: Business, Finance and Administration. |
| 2 |
The second digit represents the skill level according to the following formula:
| The character 1 |
-- Skill Level A |
| The character 2 and 3 |
-- Skill Level B |
| The character 4 and 5 |
-- Skill Level C |
| The character 6 |
-- Skill Level D |
Combined, the skill level and skill type form the "Major Group" for all occupations with the same skill level and skill type. For the above example, the "Major Group" is: Skilled Administrative and Business Occupations. |
| 4 |
The final two digits are employed to narrow, or drill down, to a specific occupational group. In the above case, the third digit combined with the skill type and skill level forms the "Minor Group": Secretaries, Recorders and Transcriptionists. |
| 2 |
The final digit completes the coding sequence by forming a "Unit Group" -- the most detailed group provided under the NOC four digit coding system. In the above example this is: Legal Secretaries. |
As mentioned earlier, an exception to this rule occurs among managerial occupations (skill type 0 - Management Occupations), which are not assigned a skill level since the criteria for hiring managers and senior executives often includes other non-schooling/training factors such as some particular type of experience.
|
