IER staff, led by Peter Elias, are currently engaged in a project funded by the Office for National Statistics, to add more detail into the next revision of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC).

Having just completed work on the revision of SOC2010 to SOC2020, the new project will provide for a six-digit structure to the classification. The work involves a series of face-to-face meetings with interested parties, such as the NHS, Royal Society, Careers Wales, Skills Development Scotland and a wide range of government departments and agencies.

As part of this work, ONS and IER have teamed up to create an online survey available to anyone with an interest in this work. Details can be found here.

At the invitation of Trexima Bratislava, Margaret Birch participated in an international conference held in Bratislava in April 2011 entitled: New challenges for skilled workforce – harmonising labour market needs with lifelong learning systems. This international conference was part of the national project VII-2 National Occupational Framework (NOF) in the Slovak republic, funded by the European Social Fund under the Operational Programme ‘Employment and Social Inclusion‘.

Margaret gave a presentation to the conference on the Implementation of ISCO 08 in the UK, focusing on the revision of the UK Standard Occupational Classification, SOC2010. Other international contributors were from the ILO’s Bureau of Statistics; from Netherlands-based ‘Colo‘ – the association of National Centres of Expertise on VET and the Labour Market; and from e-skills UK.

Following the April conference the director of Trexima Bratislava and three of his staff made a fact-finding visit to IER3 in June. Earlier contact with Trexima had involved working with Peter Elias and Margaret Birch on the development and implementation of the Slovak occupational classification in the late 1990s, and subsequently their participation in the EU PHARE Programme initiative, led by Peter Elias, to provide Technical Assistance in Classification of Occupations (TACO) via a series of workshops for the countries of East and Central Europe. Trexima, who work in partnership with the Slovak Statistical Office, have a keen interest in many aspects of the work of the IER. The programme organised for them included presentations given by Terence Hogarth, Kate Purcell and Rob Wilson, and a presentation of CASCOT made by Peter Elias and Ritva Ellison. The IER also organised for the Trexima visitors to meet staff at the Classification and Harmonisation Unit of the Office for National Statistics in Titchfield.

This Bulletin draws together a number of projects carried out within the IER over the past two to three years relating to the production, analysis and enhancement of occupational statistics both within the UK and more widely in Europe and beyond. Download this Bulletin here.