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Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
Bureau of Labor Statistics > Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics > Home

Implementing the 2018 SOC in the OEWS program – May 2019 and May 2020 Hybrid Occupations

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program began implementing the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system starting with data collection for the November 2018 panel.

OEWS estimates are calculated using data collected from six survey panels over three years. Because data will be collected under two different systems, estimates for May 2019 and May 2020 will be based on a hybrid of the two classification systems.

  • The May 2019 OEWS estimates, to be published in spring 2020, will be based on 4 panels of data collected using the OEWS implementation of the 2010 SOC and 2 panels of data using the 2018 SOC.
  • The May 2020 estimates, to be published in spring 2021, will be based on 2 panels of data collected using the 2010 SOC and 4 panels of data using the 2018 SOC.
  • The May 2021 estimates, to be published in spring 2022, will be the first OEWS estimates based solely on survey data collected using the 2018 SOC. With the May 2021 estimates release, OEWS will publish data for most 2018 SOC detailed occupations. To improve data quality, OEWS will continue to aggregate some occupations to the 2018 SOC broad occupation level or as OEWS-specific combinations of detailed occupations. A downloadable XLS file of May 2021 OEWS occupations with definitions is now available.

During the transition to the 2018 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system, OEWS estimates will be based on a “hybrid” structure that is a combination of the 2010 SOC and 2018 SOC. A spreadsheet showing the list of May 2019 and May 2020 occupations and the occupations on which they are based is available for download at: www.bls.gov/oes/oes_2019_hybrid_structure.xlsx.

 

Last Modified Date: February 23, 2021