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In English

1 Introduction SSYK 2012

1.1 Background
The Swedish Standard Classification of Occupations 2012 (SSYK 2012) is a
system for classifying and aggregating data about occupations in
administrative registers or statistical surveys. An example of the use of
SSYK is to classify people by the work they do and, as regards employment
agency services, to classify job vacancies and job-seekers.

SSYK 2012 is an update of the previous classification of occupations SSYK

96, which it also replaces. SSYK 2012 is based on the International
Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO-08), which is an update of its
predecessor ISCO-88 and ISCO-88COM1 which in turn formed the basis of
SSYK 96.

1.2 ISCO-08
The structure of ISCO-08 was established in December 2007 at a meeting of
experts organised by the International Labour Organization (ILO) attended
by employer, employee and governmental representatives. The update has
been performed in accordance with the mandate adopted at the 17th
International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS), arranged by the
ILO in 2003.

Globalisation of the labour market has increased the demand for

internationally comparable data about occupations for both statistical and
administrative purposes. ISCO-08 aims to meet this need by:

• providing an up-to-date and relevant basis for international reporting,

comparisons and exchange of information about occupations
• serving as a model for the development of national and regional
classifications of occupations
• being applicable to countries that are not developing their own national
classifications of occupations.

Much the same as ISCO-88, ISCO-08 is a hierarchical classification on four

levels; 436 Unit groups comprise the most detailed level, which can be
aggregated into 130 Minor groups, into 43 Sub-major groups and 10 Major
groups. The classification is based on similarities as regards skills and
specialisation. The changes made to the classification, despite being entitled
an ‘update’ and not a ‘revision’, are relatively substantial and affect many
categories. It has focused on clarifying ambiguities in the previous version
and on adding new occupations to the classification, which has also been
adapted to today’s labour market. This applies in particular to occupations
related to the environment, information and communication technology
(ICT) and jobs in the healthcare sector.
________
1ISCO-88(COM) is the European Union’s version of ISCO-88
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Some of the most important changes in brief are:

• Major group 1 (Managers) has been reorganised. The categories for

specialist managers have been redefined while new categories for e.g.
managers in the trade sector and in the hotel and restaurant business
have been added. The classification of managers into large/mediumsized
enterprises and into small enterprises has been removed as has the
strict classification by industry. Greater importance is instead attached
to the functional role of managers.
• In Major group 2 (Professionals), the number of categories has increased,
which depends both on the fact that the occupations have been
upgraded and moved from Major group 3, and on the fact that new
occupations have been added. For example, all teachers, nurses,
physiotherapists, occupational therapists, opticians and musicians now
belong to this professional group. New occupations in ICT and the
environment have been added.
• Major group 4 (Clerical support workers) and 5 (Service and sales
workers),both of which include occupations that in many countries are
dominated by women, have been given a more detailed level of
classification. Jobs in Major group 8 (Plant and machine operators, and
assemblers), that are often dominated by men, have on the other hand
been allotted a less detailed level.
• New categories for supervisors. According to ISCO 88, supervisors are
reported together with subordinate staff, on the assumption that they
often participate in operative tasks. In ISCO 08, the fact that certain
supervisor jobs include entirely or partly different working tasks has
been considered. In order to differentiate these, separate occupational
groups have been created for supervisors in the mining industry,
manufacturing, building and construction, offices, retailing and hotels
and housekeeping. Other supervisors are, as previously, classified
together with subordinate staff.

ISCO-08 is not primarily intended as a replacement for existing national

classification systems. A standard classification of occupations should
preferably reflect the various jobs available on the labour market of the
country in question. A country that has a classification of occupations that
is closely associated with ISCO-08 in contexts and structure, will on the
other hand obtain statistics that are easier to compare internationally.
Many countries, including Sweden, have chosen to develop a new
classification of occupations based on ISCO-08, but there are also examples
of countries with classifications that have a different structure and apply
different basic principles. Such countries have instead devised a conversion
key to ISCO-08.

1.3 EU regulations
The European Commission recommends the Member States to use ISCO-08
in their reporting from all the surveys included in the European Statistics
System (EC No 824/2009) For the Labour Force Survey (LFS), Survey on
Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC), Structure of Earnings Survey and
other surveys, there is a mandatory regulation (EC 1022/2009). International
statistics reporting is normally done on the two- or three-digit level.
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1.4 Revision work

To facilitate the implementation of ISCO-08, the Statistical Office of the
European Communities, Eurostat, gave the Member States the option of
applying for financial support. In October 2009, Statistics Sweden was
granted funding to perform a pre-study on how Sweden could best
implement ISCO-08, whereupon a project group was formed. The project
was divided into several stages, the first of which involved translating the
structure and definitions in ISCO-08 into Swedish. The second stage was to
classify all occupational titles in Statistics Sweden’s Swedish index in
accordance with ISCO-08 and to create a conversion key between SSYK 96
and ISCO-08. In addition, two seminars were held with colleagues from the
national statistics offices in Norway and Finland. The project came to an
end in November 2010.

Parallel to this work, there was an ongoing dialogue with various users and
other stakeholders. In February 2010, an initial letter was sent out to
external users, asking them for their opinion on whether the SSYK should
be revised and if so, when? The responses gave a uniform picture; Much of
SSYK 96 was seen as obsolete, ISCO-08 reflected the current labour market
much better. The majority of users were also very keen to see a prompt
revision of SSYK, as national adjustments were seen to be necessary.

During the first six months of 2010, a report was compiled on the
consequences for Sweden of updating ISCO-88 (Statistics Sweden 2010).
This report, intended to serve as a basis for an update of SSYK, was also
sent to the relevant employer and employee organisations, agencies,
researchers and analysts.

In September 2010, Statistics Sweden and the Swedish Public Employment

Service launched a joint project to update SSYK. A joint project group and
steering group were set up. During the course of the project, a large
number of stakeholders have had the opportunity to submit comments and
proposals for improvement.

A first draft of a new structure was presented in May 2011. The draft
explained which considerations had been made and which requests could
not be met (Statistics Sweden 2011). Work on the structure, names of
categories, definitions, indices and conversions keys has continued up until
March 2012 after further contact with experts and stakeholders.

1.5 National adjustments

The objective of the SSYK update has been to create a classification of
occupations that reflects the Swedish occupational structure, while
attempting to satisfy the requirements for international reporting and
comparability as far as possible. So as not to lose the comparability with
ISCO, the aim has been to avoid moving occupational groups to another
skill level. Occupational categories primarily intended for developing
countries have been excluded. To ensure the classification is as close to
ISCO-08 as possible, the numerical series have followed the international
structure as far as possible. This means that occupational groups on the
three-digit level, empty as a result of Swedish adjustments, have been
deleted and constitute gaps, instead of the series being filled in.
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ISCO-08, which forms the basis of the SSYK update, is primarily designed
so that it reports occupational statistics on an overarching level from
population censuses and labour force surveys. The Swedish version,
however, also currently covers:

• wage and salary structure statistics and other statistical studies

• classification of job vacancies and job seekers
• registration of occupational accidents, injuries or illnesses
• application for work permits in Sweden.

More applications like this also put various requirements on the

classification, which means that the end-result has to be a compromise
between different needs.

The Swedish adjustments are based on both experience gained from the
application of SSYK 96 and the comments received from various
stakeholders in connection with the revision work or on an earlier occasion.
The changes made to SSYK are warranted primarily for statistical reasons
(pay differentials, gender equality), better job matching and international
reporting requirements.

It has not been possible to satisfy all the requests received from various
stakeholders. There is little point in having a greater level of detail in the
classification, for example, if it is achieved at the expense of quality. The
working group has based these considerations on the following criteria:

• If it is not possible to create a clear distinction between different

occupations so that it is obvious how interviewers, employers and jobseekers
are to classify the occupation, the preconditions will not be in
place to create occupational statistics of acceptable quality.
• From a matching point of view, it is not relevant to create as many and
as detailed occupational categories as possible.
• An occupational group or an occupation performed by very few people
cannot be reported separately in Statistics Sweden’s sample surveys, e.g.
the labour force surveys or wage and salary structure statistics.
The adjustments to the Swedish labour market (in relation to ISCO-08)
mainly consist of:
• more categories of managers, including an additional breakdown into
two different levels of responsibility
• more categories in Sub-major group 21 (Occupations requiring an
advanced level of higher education in science and engineering)
• more categories in healthcare, mainly for nurses and for health and care
personnel in Major group 5 (Service, care and shop sales workers)
• more categories for university and higher education teachers
• more categories in the legal field
• more categories in the social field
• a rearrangement of the categories in Major group 4 (Service and
administration clerks)
• fewer categories in Major group 6 (Agricultural, horticultural, forestry
and fishery workers)
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• fewer categories in Major group 7 (Building and manufacturing

workers)
• more categories in Major group 8 (Mechanical manufacturing and
transport workers, etc.)
• fewer categories in Major group 9 (Elementary occupations).

As regards police officers, it has not been possible to follow ISCO’s intentions
to distinguish between 3355 (Police inspectors and detectives and 5412 (Police
officers). The educational and skills requirements for the majority of Swedish
police officers are very similar. In the Swedish version, all police officers
are therefore categorised (excluding managers) under Major group 3.

According to ISCO, all work in the armed forces belongs to Major group 0
(Armed forces occupations). According to SSYK 2012 jobs in the armed forces
that have a civilian equivalent are to be moved to their respective category
in Major groups 2-9.

The overview of the classification structure in English follows ISCO-08 as

far as possible but is not a direct translation of the Swedish headings.

1.6 Relationships to others standards and

occupational systems
SSYK 2012 is an update of SSYK 96. The changes are significant; categories
have been added, aggregated, divided up, moved or been deleted. The
content of many categories remains unchanged, however, but the
categories themselves may have been given a new code and/or name. To
facilitate comparisons over time, Statistics Sweden has developed
conversion keys between SSYK 2012 and SSYK 96 (See Appendices 1 and
2). The conversion key in Appendix 3 can be used for international
reporting in accordance with ISCO-08 on the three-digit level. The
conversion keys can also be found online at: www.scb.se/ssyk.2
In order to satisfy the needs of the labour market parties to shed light on
the wage and salary structure, occupational terminologies that follows the
various sectors and the agreements drawn up between employers and
workers representatives have been used on the Swedish labour market for
a long time. Each nomenclature covers only those occupations or
employment positions that are in the relevant labour market sector, albeit
significantly more detailed than SSYK. Concerning data collection for the
salary statistics and the occupational register, the classification has been
performed in accordance to a relevant occupational nomenclature, which is
then converted to SSYK using a conversion key.

________
2Only in Swedish.
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2 Structure and fundamental

principles:
The structure and underlying principles in SSYK 2012 are to all intents and
purposes unchanged compared to SSYK 96. The number of categories on
each level is shown in the following table:

Level/Code SSYK 96 SSYK 2012 ISCO 08

Major group/Single-digit level 10 10 10
Sub-major group/Two-digit level 27 46 43
Minor group/Three-digit level 113 147 3
130
Unit groups/Four-digit level 355 429 4
436

Example:
Major group: 5 Service and shop sales workers
Sub-major group: 53 Personal care workers
Minor group: 531 Child minders and teachers aids
Unit group: 5311 Child care workers

The fundamental concepts on which the classification is based are job and
qualifications. These are essentially defined in the same way as in ISCO-08.

2.1 Definition of job and occupation

A job is defined as a set of tasks and duties performed or meant to be
performed by a person who is employed or self-employed.

The concept of occupation refers to the type of work performed. A number

of different jobs with similar tasks and duties constitutes an occupation.

Example: A job can consist of driving a bus between airport terminals and
aircraft, another of driving a coach between the airport and the city centre,
while a third might be driving a school bus. Three separate jobs with
slightly different conditions but the occupation is the same - bus driver.

The same person can be associated with an occupation through the job he
or she has at present, has had previously or is seeking to have in the future.

The classification attaches no or little weight to a person’s formal

education, his or her employment status (employed/self-employed) or the
enterprise’s industry and size.

2.2 Skill level and skill specialisation

Skills, defined as the knowledge and expertise needed to perform the tasks
and duties attached to a given occupation, have two dimensions: skill level
and skill specialisation. Skill level is mainly used as the criterion on
one-digit level, while specialisation is often the guiding principle on the
more detailed sub-levels.
__________
3The categories for Nurses comprise two minor groups.
4The number of unit groups is based on the proposed recommendation for a breakdown
into two levels of managerial responsibility.
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2.2.1 Skill level

Skill level reflects the type of working tasks and their complexity. It is
applied operationally by considering one or more of the following aspects
when classifying an occupation:

• The tasks involved in the occupation compared with those described

under different Major groups with their associated skill level.
• The length of formal education that is normal for the occupation,
defined in accordance with the International Classification of Education
ISCED-97.5
• The working life experience and amount of informal training required in
the occupation.

To facilitate international comparisons, the first of these three criteria

weighs heavier than formal education and working life experience. Formal
education is only to be seen as one of several components that indicate a
skill level; knowledge and expertise needed in an occupation may also have
been gained through professional experience. As the length of formal
education tends to be extended, it may also be difficult to clarify what is
normal for an occupation.

It should be observed that what is referred to here are the skills that are
normal for an occupation, which do not necessarily tally with the skills
possessed by the employee who is performing the job.

Since SSYK 2012 is based on an international classification, only four broad

skill levels have been defined:

• Level 1 corresponds to ISCED 97.-97 Level 1, which covers elementary

education at primary school level. Translated into a Swedish context,
this means no or a low formal education requirements.
• Level 2 corresponds to ISCED 97.-97 Level 2–4, which covers education
programmes at upper secondary and tertiary level of no more than 2
years in length.
• Level 3 corresponds to ISCED 97 Level 5b, which covers practical or
vocational tertiary education programmes of 2-3 years in length.
• Level 4 corresponds to ISCED 97 Level 5a-6, which covers theoretical or
research-oriented tertiary education programmes and third-cycle
programmes of at least 3 years, normally 4 years or longer in length.
________
5International Standard Classification of Education, UNESCO 1997.
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The Major groups in SSYK 2012 are associated with the following skill
levels:

Major group/ Name Skill level

Sub-group
1 (excl. 17) Managers 4
17 Operations managers in service industries 3
2 Occupations requiring advanced level of higher education 4
3 Occupations requiring higher education qualifications or 3
equivalent
4 Administration and customer service clerks 2
5 Service, care and shop sales workers 2
6 Agricultural, horticultural, forestry and fishery workers 2
7 Building and manufacturing workers 2
8 Mechanical manufacturing and transport workers, etc. 2
9 Elementary occupations 1
01 Commissioned officers 4
02 Non-commissioned officers 3
03 Other ranks (privates. etc.). 2

2.2.2 Specialisation

The more detailed levels in SSYK 2012 are primarily based on the
similarities in the specialisation required for a job. The following aspects
have been considered:
• the required subject knowledge
• the tools, equipment and machines used
• the type of material processed
• the type of product or service produced.
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3 Description of the standard

SSYK 2012 is intended to cover all jobs on the Swedish labour market for
which salary or other compensation is paid. Voluntary work is excluded,
but it should be possible to classify unpaid work in the family business . In
principle, it should only be possible to classify any given job in one way.

The classification covers the following ten broad occupational fields (Major
groups):

1 Managers
2 Occupations requiring advanced level of higher education
3 Occupations requiring higher education qualifications or equivalent
4 Administration and customer service clerks
5 Service, care and shop sales workers
6 Agricultural, horticultural, forestry and fishery workers
7 Building and manufacturing workers
8 Mechanical manufacturing and transport workers, etc.
9 Elementary occupations
0 Armed forces occupations

3.1 Level of responsibility for managers

One request during the development of SSYK 2012 has been for Swedish
use to reflect levels of responsibility for managers.

The highest executive manager level, Sub-major group 11, in organisations

with managerial hierarchies follow the international proposal. A matrix
model has been developed for other managers for Sub-major groups 12-17.
Three-digit codes are used to identify four-digit categories in accordance
with ISCO-08 and Swedish adjustments. The fourth digit is used purely for:

1 = Department managers, or intermediate-level managers. Reporting

to the managing director (MD) or equivalent.
2 = Line managers reporting to intermediate managers or managing
director (MD) or equivalent. Highest manager in enterprises with no
managerial hierarchy.

For certain categories, where there is reason to believe that no breakdown

into different levels of responsibility is necessary or possible, the fourth
digit is set to 0. In individual surveys, it is possible to choose beforehand
not to divide up managers into different levels of responsibility, In such
cases, the fourth digit for sub-major groups 12-17 is always set to 0.

The matrix model makes it possible to use the nomenclature without

dividing up into skill levels and still fulfil the requirements for
international reporting.

3.2 Descriptions of occupations

A category is defined using an associated description. General descriptions
have been developed for each major group, sub-major group, minor group
and unit group. These descriptions do not however claim to describe all the
tasks and duties that may be included in an occupation. An associated
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occupation may include all or just some of the enumerated tasks and
duties. Examples of occupations that belong or don’t belong to the category
have been stipulated in order to clarify the boundaries between different
categories.

Compared to SSYK 96, the descriptions of occupations for many of the

remaining categories have been updated. New definitions for newly added
occupations have been developed.

Occupations that do not belong to a specific unit group are classified in a

residual group (as and when appropriate). The name of a residual group
always starts with the word “Other”, while the code finishes with a “9”.

3.3 Index of occupational titles

To facilitate classification, Statistics Sweden provides a list (index) of
occupational titles with their associated SSYK codes (see documents under
www.scb.se/ssyk6). The index is regularly updated, but makes no claim to
include all existing occupational titles. Since the same occupational title can
be used to denote entirely different jobs depending on e.g. industry or
sector, such an index must always be used with a certain amount of
caution. Information on main tasks and duties often improves the chances
of a correct classification. Occupational titles cannot be used to define the
content of a category, but are only to be seen as an aid to coding.

3.4 Some application issues

3.4.1 Managers and supervisors
In the Swedish update, which follows the international update, the top
manager is to be coded as 1120 Managing directors, etc., in enterprises that
are large enough to have a managerial hierarchy. For enterprises that do
not have a managerial hierarchy, the top manager is to be coded in submajor
group 12-17 by business activity.

Differentiating between managers and supervisors can be problematic.

Both managers and supervisors plan, organise, coordinate, control and lead
work performed by others. A crucial difference is that supervisors are only
responsible for activities performed by other employees, whereas managers
classified under Major group 1 must have an overarching responsibility for
a department/organisational unit in an enterprise. Furthermore, most
managers are responsible for and take decisions on:

a) the overarching strategic and operative management of an enterprise or

organisational unit (e.g. type of product or service, quantity and
quality),
b) budget (how much money that is to be used and for what purposes),
c) selection, hiring and firing of personnel.
It is not necessary for managers to be responsible for all three of these
areas, as the degree of autonomy may vary.

Supervisors may give advice in these issues, especially when it comes to

personnel issues, but don’t have authority to take decisions. They often
have work experience of one of more of the jobs they supervise.
________
6Only in Swedish.
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Both ISCO-08 and SSYK 2012 have taken into account the fact that
supervisors don’t always perform the same tasks as their subordinate staff.
The following separate unit groups have therefore been created for
supervisors in SSYK 2012:

3121 Construction, plant and mining supervisors

3122 Manufacturing supervisors
3341 Office supervisors
4321 Stock and warehouse supervisors
5151 Cleaning supervisors and head housekeepers
5221 Shop sales and shop department managers

Other supervisors are to be classified in the same category as subordinate

staff. Relevant tasks and duties in addition to coordination and control of
work performed may include instructing new employees and sometimes
taking part in day-to-day work.

3.4.2 Jobs with diversified working tasks

The following general rules may be applied where necessary:

a) If the working tasks require skills that are not normally obtained via a
long education or through work experience, the job shall be classified
according to the tasks that have the highest skill level.
b) Example: A job that consists of driving a delivery van and
loading/unloading goods, is to be classified as “delivery van driver”.
c) If the working tasks can be attributed to both the production and
distribution of goods, the job shall be classified as the former.
d) Example: A job that consists of both baking and selling bread shall be
classified as “baker”, not as shop assistant/salesperson.
e) If the various tasks and duties can be attributed to production and the
skill level is the same, consideration is to be taken of which tasks require
the most time.

Example: A job that consists of both assembling doors and door-frames

and of installing electric door-closers is to be classified as a joiner.

3.4.3 Trainees and apprentices

Students, apprentices and trainees are to be classified in accordance with
their future job. This may apply to trainee doctors, legal advisors,
carpenters and other handicraft workers.

3.4.4 Doctoral students

Doctoral students constitute their own group in SSYK. Their main task is to
study and in cases where teaching and other tasks occur, these are deemed
to constitute such a small proportion of their time as to set them apart from
other occupational groups working in higher education.

Industrial doctoral students shall primarily be included in the job within

the field in which the research is performed.
www.scb.