Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy

Unlocking global insights, career pathways, richer skills analysis, and more

The Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy captures the comprehensive scope of the workforce in today’s global economy. The taxonomy provides clarity where roles and job titles can be confusing, so you can make truly global comparisons to understand the changing nature of the labor market without relying on a “lowest common denominator” from less granular taxonomies. It is designed to allow anyone to organize and analyze disparate labor market data such as job postings, governmental labor market data and employee profiles with one comprehensive taxonomy.

Furthermore the Lightcast Occupation taxonomy responds to a changing world as different roles emerge, providing a competitive edge to users. It is visible in the Analyst platforms, our APIs, and our other data products.

Here’s what you need to know:

• What is the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy?
• What key benefits does the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy provide?
• How do I start using the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy?

What is the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy?

The Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy (LOT) is a proprietary taxonomy composed of four different levels (Career Area, Occupation Group, Occupation and Specialized Occupation). The Specialized Occupations within the taxonomy identify roles that are the same, across employers and geographies, regardless of job title. This is especially important in emerging fields, when job titles can evolve quickly. 

The next level up from Specialized Occupations are Occupations, which are composed of one or more Specialized Occupations that are slightly broader in nature and roughly equivalent to US O*NET-SOC detailed occupations and 4 digit ESCO codings.

Occupation Groups combine similar Occupations in a logical group that are roughly equivalent to US SOC broad occupations and ESCO 3 digit codes. 

Finally Career Areas group occupation groups together into large sectors with broad categories of labor. This is a great jumping off point to drill down if your aim is to understand broad labor market trends and patterns. Career Areas are roughly equivalent to US SOC major groups and ESCO 2 digit codes.

This hierarchy allows you to start broad, but then “drill down” to a level of analysis that is far more granular and precise than most national occupation taxonomies can achieve. This level of granularity means that specific roles can be analyzed without the need to look at potentially confusing and messy job titles. 

The Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy is updated annually — infrequent enough to make it stable and useful for comparisons over time, but frequent enough to capture new, emerging roles as they formalize in the economy.

Tip: you can also review our skills taxonomy to get an in-depth understanding of trends and patterns in newly evolving skills in any labor market.

What key benefits does the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy provide?

The Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy introduces several key benefits for educators, businesses, and community leaders:

Granular – The Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy provides significantly more granularity than federal taxonomies, while maintaining a level of aggregation that allows robust analysis. Users can create meaningful career ladders using Specialized Occupations, showing the skills and credentials required for each.

Specific – The Specialized Occupations identify roles that are the same, across employers and geographies, regardless of job title. Job titles can cross occupations (as employers cast a wide net while advertising positions) so the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy serves to close this language gap.

Global – With a single taxonomy applied globally to postings, profiles, and Governmental Labor Market data, you can make truly global comparisons to understand the changing nature of the labor market without relying on a “lowest common denominator” from local taxonomies.

Responsive – The Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy is updated annually — infrequent enough to make it stable and useful for comparisons over time, but frequent enough to capture new, emerging roles as they formalize in the economy.

How do I start using the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy?

The Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy is currently available as a filter in all Job Postings reports across Lightcast platforms. Note: Depending on the report, you may need to select the “Show Advanced Options” button in order to access the LOT filter field.