OMB Seeking Public Comment on Standard Occupational Classification Revisions
On June 12, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a notice in the Federal Register announcing its review of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) and asking for public comment. All federal statistical agencies, including the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), use SOC codes when reporting on occupational data for statistical purposes. This ensures that data is comparable across agencies and, therefore, more usable. Most federal contractors use the Census EEO Tabulation when calculating availability for their Executive Order 11246 Affirmative Action Programs (AAPs). Additionally, OFCCP often uses BLS’s Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) data when calculating back pay in systemic discrimination cases. Both data sources use SOC codes. The current SOC code structure, which is dated 2018 and includes classification principles, coding guidelines, and code definitions, can be found on BLS’s website. The SOC syste...