Glossary:International standard classification of occupations (ISCO)
The International standard classification of occupations, abbreviated as ISCO, is an international classification under the responsibility of the International Labour Organization (ILO) for organising jobs into a clearly defined set of groups according to the tasks and duties undertaken in the job.
ISCO is intended both for use in compiling statistics and for client-oriented uses such as the recruitment of workers through employment offices, the management of migration of workers between countries and the development of vocational training programmes and guidance.
The first ISCO version, known as ISCO-58, was adopted in 1957 by the Ninth International Conference of Labour Statisticians; subsequent versions were ISCO-68 (Eleventh International Conference of Labour Statisticians, 1966), ISCO-88 (Fourteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians, 1987) and the fairly recent ISCO-08, adopted in December 2007.
Example (ISCO-88)
1 LEGISLATORS, SENIOR OFFICIALS AND MANAGERS
- 11 Legislators and senior officials
- 111 Legislators and senior government officials
- 114 Senior officials of special-interest organisations
2 PROFESSIONALS
- 21 Physical, mathematical and engineering science professionals
- 211 Physicists, chemists and related professionals
- 2111 Physicists and astronomers
- 2112 Meteorologists
- 2113 Chemists
- 2114 Geologists and geophysicists
- 211 Physicists, chemists and related professionals
Further information
Related concepts
- International standard classification of education (ISCED)
- Statistical classification of economic activities in the European Community (NACE)