Transitioning to SOC 2018

The BLS’s Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) dataset is the foremost source of occupation data in the US. Emsi Burning Glass’s SOC structure almost entirely follows OES’s, so Emsi Burning Glass will be adopting SOC 2018 with OES.

Timeline

• Spring 2020: BLS releases OES using hybrid SOC system
• July 2020: Emsi Burning Glass releases 2020.3 datarun using OES’s hybrid SOC system
• Spring 2022: BLS releases OES using SOC 2018 classification for the first time
• July 2022: Emsi Burning Glass releases 2022.3 datarun using OES’s SOC 2018 classification

How OES Works

OES is a survey distributed to approximately 1.2 million businesses. Those businesses are divided in to six groups. It takes the BLS three years to collect responses from all 1.2 million businesses. OES is released annually, and each annual release is made up of the latest responses from each of the six groups of businesses in the 1.2 million business universe.

Transitioning OES to SOC 2018

Because OES is only completely refreshed every three years, it will take three years to switch it entirely from using the SOC 2010 classification to using SOC 2018. Until May 2021, OES will contain responses delivered in terms of both SOC 2010 and SOC 2018.

To match the two classifications for reporting purposes, OES “rolls up” detailed SOCs that are undergoing changes between the 2010 and 2018 classifications to less detailed SOCs that can span both classifications. Rolling up to levels of less detail enables OES to combine data from older panels that reported using SOC 2010 with newer panels that report in SOC 2018. Once all responses in the OES dataset have reported using the new classification, the data will be “rolled down” again to the most detailed level of SOC 2018.

2020.3 Datarun (7/2020)

In the 2020.3 datarun, Emsi Burning Glass is switching to OES’s hybrid SOC 2019 classification. As outlined above, the hybrid classification is designed by the BLS to span both the SOC 2010 and SOC 2018 classification systems. Among other changes, this means that users will have access to fewer SOC codes for the next few years, until OES “rolls down” again into SOC 2018 with full detail.

Complete List of Hybrid 2019 SOC Changes

For a complete list of the changes between SOC 2010 and hybrid SOC 2019, see this spreadsheet.

For a complete list of the changes between SOC 2010 and hybrid SOC 2019, as well as the expected changes to SOC 2018, see this spreadsheet.

Hybrid 2019 SOC Changes

What follows is an outline of the major changes users can expect to see between SOC 2010 and the 2019 hybrid SOC classification that will be in use for the next two years. For exhaustive lists of changes, see the above spreadsheets.

Rollups

The following codes have been rolled up from more detailed levels to less detailed levels. Each group on the left has been rolled into the single bolded code on the right, e.g. 13-2051 and 13-2099 have been rolled into 13-2098.

Code or Name Changes

The following popular codes have undergone either name or SOC code switches (or both).

More Information

For more information on how OES will be transitioned to hybrid SOC 2019 and finally to SOC 2018, visit the BLS’s page.