Compensation Glossary

Standard Occupational Code (SOC)

The SOC is a system used by statistical agencies to categorize workers into occupational groups so as to collect, calculate, and disseminate data. Workers are grouped into a particular classification of occupation (of which there are over 840) depending on their definition. To make classification easier, occupations are combined so as to form 23 main groups, 97 sub-groups and 461 broad categories of occupations.