Japan Standard Occupational Classification (Rev. 4th, December 1997)
General Principles for the Japan Standard Occupational Classification

In this Occupational Classification, the term "occupations" refers to work that is undertaken by individuals continuously and for financial recompense.

For work to be "continuous", it must not be temporary and must answer to one of the following.

1. (1) It is undertaken on a cyclical basis, e.g. every day, every week, or every month.
2. (2) It is undertaken on a seasonal basis.
3. (3) Though lacking a clear cycle, it is undertaken on a continuous basis.
4. (4) There is willingness and potential for the work currently undertaken to be continued.

For work to be "for financial recompense", it must be accompanied by payment in cash, payment in kind, or by wages, salary, profit (for the self-employed) or other remuneration regardless of the name thereof, or socially useful work undertaken with the aim of obtaining income. In such cases, the income obtained as a result of the work may be non-continuous.

Work undertaken by members of a family who are engaged in a family business in the household to which they belong may be regarded as an "occupation", even if it is not necessarily clear whether wages, salary or other recompense is received, as long as the work is engaged in continuously for fixed hours (for example, average 2 hours per day, or at least one-third of the working hours of normal working people).

A person who receives income without undertaking work cannot be said to be engaged in an occupation, while, conversely, work undertaken without recompense is not classified as an occupation in this Occupational Classification.

Cases in which a person may receive income without undertaking work include the following.

1. (1) When receiving interest, share dividends, house rent, room rent, land rent, key money, or other income on property (however, such activity is regarded as an occupation when it is judged that apartment management, moneylending or other acts are practiced as a business).
2. (2) When receiving income based on the social security system in line with the Public Official Pensions Law, Daily Life Security Law, Employees' Pension Law, National Pension Law, Employment Insurance Law, etc., or other pension income.
3. (3) When receiving pocket money, remittances from family members, or other gifts.
4. (4) When receiving payouts or goods from horseracing, cycle racing, boat racing, pachinko, or other similar activity.
5. (5) When receiving income from the withdrawal of deposits, receipt of insurance money, borrowings, or the sale of land or other assets.
6. (6) When receiving income from profit on the sale of shareholdings, etc.
7. (7) When receiving school or student scholarships, etc.
8. (8) When receiving training allowances or consolation money in an occupational training facility.

Cases of work undertaken without recompense include the following.

1. (1) Housework or gardening undertaken in the person's own household, or child-minding or other caretaking work for pocket money.
2. (2) Unwaged service-type work such as that of officers of PTA or children's associations, social welfare activities, volunteer activities, and so on.
   Moreover, illegal acts such as theft, extortion, gambling, prostitution, or smuggling, and work undertaken by prison inmates are not regarded as occupations.

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The unit for application of Occupational Classification is the individual.

This Occupational Classification have been created by classifying occupations according to the similarities between jobs undertaken by individuals and arranging them systematically. When classifying jobs, classes have been based on the following criteria, taking account of the degree to which the work done by an individual is established as a single type of job in social terms.

Meanwhile, when setting classes, the number of people engaged in a particular job, the statutory qualifications, and other points have also been taken into account.

1. (1) The format of work undertaken by an individual
2. (2) Any necessary knowledge or skill
3. (3) The type of goods manufactured or service provided
4. (4) The type of raw materials, tools, machinery appliances, or equipment used
5. (5) The place and environment in which the work is undertaken
6. (6) The role served within the business site or other organization

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This Occupational Classification are divided into three stages, namely Major Groups, Minor Groups and Unit Groups. There are 10 Major Groups, 81 Minor Groups, and 364 Unit Groups.

Since Major Group [I Production process and related workers], embraces a wide range of occupations including manufacturing workers, drivers of stationery engines, etc., construction and mining workers, Sub-Major Group [I-1 to I-3] have been created for convenience when indicating statistical results in even greater detail.

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When an individual is engaged in work that corresponds to a single classification, the occupation is determined according to that work. If, however, the work corresponds to more than one classification, a single classification is determined in accordance with the following principles (*1). It should be noted that, depending on the purpose of the survey, the method of determining occupations may not follow these principles.

1. (1) When engaged in work that corresponds to different classification in more than one place of employment
   1. Determined by the job that commands the longest working hours (*2).
   2. When difficult to determine using a. above, determined by the job that commands the largest income (*2).
   3. When difficult to determine using a. and b. above, determined by the work most recently undertaken at the time of the survey.
2. (2) When engaged in work that corresponds to different classification in a single place of employment
   1. Determined by the job that commands the longest working hours (*2).
   2. When difficult to determine using a. above, determined by the following sequence of Major Groups ((a)-(i)), based on the type, nature and degree of skill, etc.
      1. (a) Agriculture forestry and fishery workers
      2. (b) Production process and related workers
      3. (c) Transport and communication workers
      4. (d) Security workers
      5. (e) Service workers
      6. (f) Specialist and technical workers
      7. (g) Sales workers
      8. (h) Administrative and managerial workers
      9. (i) Clerical workers
   3. When difficult to determine using both a. and b. above, determined by work involving the most important process or the final process.
3. (3) The occupations of self-defense officials, police officers, maritime safety officials and firefighters are, regardless of the content of their work, self-defense officials, police officers, maritime safety officials and firefighters, respectively.

1. (*1) When an individual's occupation is applied (graded) under this Occupational Classification, application follows the sequence of Major Group - Minor Group - Unit Group.
2. (*2) When no particular time period is specified, judgement is based on working hours or income under normal conditions. When a time period is specified, judgement is based on working hours or income during that period.

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The classification codes used in Japan Standard Occupational Classification are as follows: Major Groups - letters A to J;Minor Groups - two-digit numbers; Unit Groups - three-digit numbers.

When the third digit of a Unit Group code is 9, it signifies a miscellaneous class within that Minor Group, i.e. "Other ..." or "... not classified elsewhere".

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