National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2001

The National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2001 provides a standardized language for describing the work performed by Canadians in the labour market. It is used for many applications including defining and collecting statistics, managing information databases, analyzing labour market trends and extracting practical career planning information. More importantly, it gives statisticians, labour market analysts, career counsellors, employers and individual job seekers a consistent way to collect data and describe and understand the nature of work. The NOC is developed in collaboration with Statistics Canada.

The NOC tool classifies occupations with a four-digit code according to skill type and skill level. The digits of the NOC code reflect important information about the occupation it represents (e.g., 3113 Dentists - “31” indicates that this is a health occupation and it requires university level education). For a complete overview of the classification system, please consult the on-line NOC Training Tutorial (See related links section).

The classification system also supports a variety of career information sources published by the Government of Canada and others. For example, Job Futures, the widely-used source of information about occupational outlooks, and the national JobBank®, an electronic listing of jobs, work or business opportunities provided by Canadian employers are both organized according to NOC definitions. By providing a standard way of organizing labour market information, the NOC helps all Canadians to be better informed about the world of work.

For more information, please visit the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2001 .

Career Handbook - Second Edition

The Career Handbook is the counselling component of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system. The Second Edition reflects the revisions made to the classification system in 2001.

The updated Career Handbook provides 923 occupational profiles for counselling based on NOC 2001 occupations and maintains the original descriptor scales, factors and presentation format. It includes information on aptitudes, interests, data/people/things interactions, physical activities, environmental conditions, education/training indicators, career progression and work settings.

The Career Handbook provides global ratings assigned to occupations to further define skills, worker characteristics and other indicators related to occupations that are important for career exploration and informed career decision-making. This counselling resource is used by a wide range of professionals for many applications, and by individuals engaged in self-directed career planning.