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Distinctions between different occupational classes were introduced in population censuses undertaken in the early parts of the 19th century in several countries, but the identification of occupation and industry as different variables, each requiring its own classification, was only made towards the end of that century, as it became increasingly clear that the division of labour between firms and organizations in an industrial society was distinct from the division of labour between different jobs within the same firm.
The history of the development of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) has always been closely connected with the work of the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) which meets under the auspices of the International Labour Organization. The need for an international standard classification of occupations was discussed already at the first ICLS in 1923, but it did not propose a formal grouping of occupations.
The first positive step towards its establishment was the adoption of a provisional classification of occupations of nine major groups by the Seventh ICLS in 1949, and proposed a series of basic principles to be followed in the collection and tabulation of the data, including that:
- the basic variable in any classification of occupations should be the trade, profession or type of work performed by an individual, irrespective of the branch of economic activity to which he or she is attached or of his or her status in employment;
- proprietors or owners who mainly perform the same work as that performed by employees in the own or in a similar enterprise should be allocated to the same group to which the employees are allocated; and
- to classify individuals according to their occupation, information is needed on the actual kind of work performed as well as status in employment and industry.
In 1952, the ILO published the International Classification of Occupations for Migration and Employment Placement, with descriptions of 1 727 occupations based on the national classifications of eight industrialized countries.
In 1954 the Eight ICLS approved a list of minor (two-digit code) groups which was subsequently submitted to the governments and to a group of experts for comments. In 1957 the Ninth ICLS adopted the first version of the International Standard Classifications of Occupations (ISCO-58). It consisted of a classification structure of major, minor a unit groups (three-digit code numbers) and a comprehensive set of occupation descriptions, drafted in consultation with the governments. It was published in 1958.
The Ninth ICLS also proposed a prompt revision of ISCO-58. In 1965, a working party examined proposals made on the basis of comments of about 80 countries and ten international organisations concerning the classification. These comments served to prepare a draft classification which was discussed, amended and adopted by the Eleventh ICLS in 1966. ISCO-68 consists of 8 major groups, 83 minor groups, 284 unit groups and 1506 occupational categories, and includes definitions for each of the 1881 titles describing the general functions of the occupations as well as the main task performed by the workers concerned. It includes an expanded alphabetical list of several thousand titles as well as a table of conversion from ISCO-58 to ISCO-68. The English and French versions were published in 1969 and the Spanish version in 1970.
The third edition of ISCO (ISCO-88) was adopted by the 14th ICLS in 1987 and approved by the ILO Governing Body in 1988. The major changes introduced were that
- the underlying principles and concepts were made more explicit than in the previous versions;
- skill level and skill specialization were identified as the main similarity criteria for creating aggregate groups; and
- ISCO-88 does not define as many detailed categories as its predecessors, because experience had shown that it is very difficult to develop a comprehensive set of detailed descriptions that will be applicable to all countries.
ISCO-88 has descriptions for all of the categories that are identified at each of the four levels of its structure, and it can easily be extended by defining detailed occupations if and when that is needed.
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