Home > Director-General for Policy Planning (Statistical Policy) > Japan Standard Industrial Classification > Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Rev. 4th, December 1997) > Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Rev. 4th, December 1997) The History of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification and an Outline of the 4th Revision

Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Rev. 4th, December 1997)
The History of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification and an Outline of the 4th Revision

1.Purpose and history of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification

(1)Purpose of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification

Standard statistical criteria are required in order to maintain the accuracy and objectivity of statistics, and to improve their mutual comparability and usage. As one form of such criteria, the Japan Standard Occupational Classification has been established by classifying occupations according to the similarities between jobs undertaken by individuals and arranging them systematically, in order to express the results of statistical surveys for each individual occupation.

(2)History of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification

The origins of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification can be traced to the Occupational Classification used in the 1st National Census, which was conducted in 1920.

This Occupational Classification was closer to an industrial classification in today's terms, with the addition of some occupational details. At the time, there was no clear distinction between the concepts of occupational and industrial classifications, the latter merely being conducted under the name of the former. The distinction between occupational and industrial classifications was first made in the 3rd National Census in 1930. Then, from the 5th National Census in 1940 onwards, the occupational classification used in the Census was prepared separately from the industrial classification. In the 2nd National Census in 1925 and the 4th National Census in 1935, meanwhile, there were no data specific to different occupations.

The impetus for the Occupational Classification to be established in its present form was provided by the World Census proposed by the United Nations in 1950. Japan took part in the Census, and, at the suggestion of the occupying forces (GHQ), a Central Planning Commission was set up within the Cabinet's Statistics Commission in 1950. Research on the various classifications was now promoted as a basic operation in the Census execution plan. For this, along with the various special working groups, an Occupational Classification Special Working Group consisting of a committee, a steering group and a sub-committee was set up.

This Working Group was responsible for preparing the Occupational Classification for the National Census in September 1950, and then continued to prepare standard classifications. For this, a Technical Committee on Standard Occupational Classification was newly appointed to pursue research.

Following a reform of administrative organs, the Statistics Commission's Occupational Classification Expert Working Group became the Occupational Classification Expert Working Group of the Statistical Standards Department in the Administrative Management Agency from August 1952, though its organizational setup remained the same. In March 1953, a draft proposal for the Japan Standard Occupational Classification was published. This proposal was later re-published in March 1957.

Meanwhile, as part of the aforementioned reform of administrative organs, the Statistics Council was set up as a consultative body to the Director-General of the Administrative Management Agency in August 1952. At the 1st Meeting of the Statistics Council in September of that year, an inquiry was made on establishing standards for occupational classification used in statistical surveys (Inquiry No.2: On the Establishment of Standards for Occupational Classification Used in Statistical Surveys), as well as on the establishment of standards for industrial classification, product classification, regional classification and buildings classification.

In response to this, an Occupational Classification Expert Working Group was set up within the Statistics Council in November of the same year, and started to deliberate on the establishment of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification.

After this, the Occupational Classification for the National Census was created by the Statistics Bureau of the Prime Minister's Office in 1955. In 1958, the International Labour Organization (ILO) established its International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), and deliberations on the Japan Standard Occupational Classification also took such experience and research into account.

Based on this background, a report on the establishment of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification was made by the 90th Meeting of the Statistics Council in March 1960, and in response to this, the Administrative Management Agency established the Japan Standard Occupational Classification in the same month.

Once the Japan Standard Occupational Classification had been established, considerable changes came to be observed in occupations as a result of shifts in socio-economic trends, causing a divergence from reality when applying the standard classification. Moreover, in 1968 the International Labour Organization (ILO) revised its International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) (a draft revision was adopted at the 11th International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) in October 1966, and approved at the 168th General Assembly in February-March 1967). Therefore, a revision was planned, and an inquiry on revising the Japan Standard Occupational Classification was made at the 188th meeting of the Statistics Council in May 1968.

A report to this inquiry was made at the 209th meeting of the Statistics Council in February 1970, and in response to this, the Administrative Management Agency carried out the 1st revision of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification in March of the same year.

Following this, the 2nd revision was made in December 1979, the 3rd revision in 1986, and finally the 4th revision in December 1997, to keep step with changes in occupational structure accompanying shifts in socio-economic trends.

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2.Outline of the 4th revision of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification and main points of the revision

(1) Inquiry on revision of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification

(Inquiry No.249 Re: Revision of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification)PDF


(2) Report by the Statistics Council

(Report to No.249 Re: Revision of the Japan Standard Occupational Classification)PDF


(3) Main points of the revision

The main aim of the 4th revision was, while basically respecting the existing system of classification as far as possible, to ensure that the classes are more widely used as standard criteria when drawing up and using various statistics related to occupations. To this end, the system of classification, class titles, descriptions and illustrations of content have been changed. Of these changes, the main examples of new, abolished, divided, merged and transferred classes are as follows.

New classes
Major Group A Specialist and technical workers
05 Architects, civil engineers and surveyors
06 Data processing technicians
061 System engineers
062 Programmers
132 Patent attorneys, judicial scriveners
149 Other management specialists
Major Group B Administrative and managerial workers
211 Legislative officials and government administrators
Major Group C Clerical workers
254 Secretaries
Major Group E Service workers
342 Home helpers
353 Cosmetic service workers (except beauticians)
395 Undertakers, crematorium workers
Major Group I Production process and related workers
763 Steel reinforcement workers
Abolished classes
Major Group B Administrative and managerial workers
231 Sole proprietors
Major Group I Production process and related workers
801 Silk reelers
805 Winders, hank reelers
816 Felt, non-woven fabric production workers
824 Hat makers
836 Wooden tub, barrel and round box makers
863 Tire repair workers
884 Umbrella makers
663 Support pillar workers
664 Mine transport workers
665 Ore dressers, coal dressers
Divided classes
New Old
03 Mechanical / electrical engineers 03 Mining & manufacturing industry technicians
04 Mining & amp; manufacturing industry technicians (except mechanical / electrical engineers)
034 Electrical engineers 035 Electrical engineers
035 Telecommunication engineers
09 Public health nurses, midwives, nurses 06 Health care workers (except doctors, dental surgeons, veterinary surgeons, pharmacists)
10 Medical technicians
11 Other health care workers
101 Diagnostic radiographers 064 Diagnostic radiographers,Clinical laboratory / medical technologists
102 Clinical laboratory technologists,medical technologists
104 Dental hygienists 066 Dental hygienists/ Dental technicians
105 Dental technicians
301 Passenger / freight clerical workers 301 Transport clerical workers
302 Transportation management clerical workers
392 Left luggage handlers 452 Left luggage handlers,commodity hire workers
393 Commodity hire workers
76 Construction skeleton workers 92 Construction workers
77 Construction workers (except construction skeleton workers)
Merged classes
New Old
361 Cooks 353 Bar, cafe and restaurant owners (who prepare food and drinks themselves)
421 Chefs
422 Cooks (except chefs)
431 Crop farming and sericulture workers 551 Crop farming workers
552 Sericulture workers
451 Fishery workers 571 Ocean fishery workers
572 Freshwater fishery workers
461 Electric and diesel engine drivers 601 Electric engine drivers
602 Diesel and steam engine drivers
462 Electric and diesel car drivers 603 Diesel car drivers
604 Electric car drivers
501 Radio communication technicians 641 Radio communication workers
642 Radio technicians
I-1 Manufacturing and production workers I-2 Ceramics, earth and stone products, metal materials and chemical product makers
I-3 Metal product and machinery makers
I-4 Other product makers
629 Other food makers 779 Other food ingredient makers
789 Other food makers
64 Spinners and weavers 80 Silk reelers
81 Spinners and weavers
641 Roving and spinning workers 802 Blenders
803 Rovers, spinners
648 Rope and net makers(fiber) 817 Rope, cord and string makers (fiber)
818 Net makers (fiber)
649 Other spinners and weavers 809 Other silk reelers
819 Other spinners and weavers
672 Papermakers 842 Mechanical papermakers
843 Manual papermakers

693

Plastic product shapers and processors
864 Plastic product shapers
865 Plastic product processors
I-3 Mine workers, construction workers and laborers I-1 Mine workers
I-6 Construction workers
I-7 Laborers
75 Mine workers 65 Mine and quarry workers
66 Other mine workers
751 Miners 651 Miners
652 Coalminers
Transfer between classes
421 Prison guards
(From old "51 Judicial police employees " to new "42 Other public security workers ")

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