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What is the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations 2020 ?

The Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations is based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08) issued by the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The occupations' information are collected from the census, surveys, and the administrative records.  It is a five-level classification that uses a hierarchical structure for the occupations divided into major group, sub-major group, minor groups, unit group, as well as occupation's code, title, and description. It is a system that collects and classifies the names of occupations in a hierarchical structure and according to the similarities to provide a common understanding related to the occupational structures of the workforce.

Is the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations official and approved ?

Yes, the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations is official and approved. A Cabinet Resolution No. (660), dated 10/24/1441 AH was issued to approve the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations and to be applied by ministries and government agencies in their internal systems within twelve months of its date.

What are the objectives of the Classification ?

The Saudi Standard Classifications of Occupations has a number of objectives, most importantly:

Unify the use of the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations in all private and government entities and reach to a common understanding in which standards and concepts can be built. Provide a unified reference to code and classify the occupations locally, regionally, and internationally.  Provide a common understanding to define the occupations, identify expected tasks as well as major qualifications and skills for each occupation. Also, unify the ways of reading and presenting the data. Provide the possibility of local, regional and international comparisons of data. Facilitate data flow and exchange between different local institutions and authorities. Provide the main information and infrastructure for data collection and analysis that are related to the labor market. To ease the process of unifying socio-economic indicators and concepts related to the classification. Standardize the occupations' titles, codes, and descriptions to improve the work environment and increase the efficiency of government support for professions in the Kingdom. List all professions in the Saudi labor market and facilitate processing of its data. Prepare a future update mechanism.

Where does the importance of the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations lie ?

The importance of the Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations lies in the following points:

In standardizing the occupations' titles, codes, and descriptions to improve the work environment and increase the efficiency of government support for professions in the Kingdom. Organizing the occupations in major group, sub-major group, minor group, and unit group to facilitate its use for data collection and publishing. Identifying the fastest growing occupations in the Kingdom. A major supporter to the electronic linkage project between various entities, to boost the work of the e-government. Standardize the occupations' titles in the government and private sectors. Enhance the possibility of relying on the data of the administrative records in labor market statistics and other statistics. List the occupations in the Kingdom and compare them with other occupations regionally and internationally.

What is the difference between occupation and job ?

According to (ISCO-08) job is defined as "set of tasks and duties performed or meant to be performed by one person for a particular employer, including self-employment”. People can have more than one job at the same time.

On the other hand, occupation is defined as" a set of jobs whose main tasks and duties are characterized by a high degree of similarity. ”A person may enter a profession through the main position he is currently occupying, or through a second job, or through a position he previously held.

Occupations are concerned with the type of work that a person does regardless of the place of (the activity / industry), or in which state of employment the work is performed.

Example :

An illustrative example of the job categories for Medical Physics Specialist profession in the government sector jobs' classification :

What is the Structure of the Classification ?

The Saudi Standard Classification of Occupations is divided into (10) major groups, each group is divided into (43) sub-major group, which is divided into (130) minor group. Each minor group is divided into (432) units. Units, on the other hand, are divided into five-level occupations.

The following table shows the major groups distributed according to the units and occupations :