Occupational and industry classification systems used in the Current Population Survey

(includes crosswalk information and conversion factors)

In January 2003, the Current Population Survey (CPS or "household" survey) adopted the 2002 Census occupational and industry classification systems, which are derived, respectively, from the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) and the 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). These systems replaced the 1990 Census occupational and industry classifications. For more information on the significant differences between these systems, see the February 2003 Employment and Earnings article on changes introduced to the Current Population Survey in January 2003 (PDF 133KB)

The 2002 Census Classification Systems with SOC and NAICS Crosswalks

Because the Census occupational and industry classifications are adaptations of the SOC and NAICS, occupational and industry statistics from the Current Population Survey are not strictly comparable with statistics from other sources that use the SOC and NAICS directly. The following documents provide listings of the specific or "detailed" 2002 Census occupational and industry classifications and the broad or "major" groups to which they are aggregated in many data presentations. These listings include SOC and NAICS crosswalk information; that is, they show the corresponding SOC and NAICS codes for the detailed Census occupations and industries. Data users should note that there is not always a one-to-one match between the Census classifications and the SOC and NAICS.

• 2002 Census Occupational Classification—list of detailed occupations with major occupational groups and crosswalk to the 2000 SOC (PDF 62KB)
• 2002 Census Industrial Classification—list of detailed industries with major industry groups and crosswalk to the 2002 NAICS (PDF 46KB)

Break in CPS occupation and industry series

The introduction of the 2002 Census occupational and industry classification systems created a complete break in comparability with existing data series at all levels of occupation and industry aggregation. The composition of detailed occupations and industries changed substantially in the 2002 systems compared with the 1990 systems, as did the structure for aggregating them into major groups. Hence, any comparisons of data on the different classifications are not possible without major adjustments.

Historical data available

BLS constructed some historical employment series back to 1983 at broader levels of occupational and industry aggregation. Information about these reconstructed series with instructions for accessing the data is available on the BLS website at http://www.bls.gov/cps/constio198399.htm.

Unpublished tables with 2000-2002 employment for detailed occupations and industries under the new classifications are available on request from the Division of Labor Force Statistics; by email or telephone (202) 691-6378.

Conversion factors for the Census occupational and industry classifications

Some researchers may need to maintain ongoing CPS employment series that are not included in the historical data described above. For these data users, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has created conversion factors between the 1990 and 2002 Census classifications. These factors are based on three-year average survey microdata (2000-2002) that were coded to both the old and new classification systems. They are tabulated at the major group level as well as by the detailed classifications.

The conversion factors, provided in Tables 1-8 below, show the percent distribution of employment re-coded from one classification system to another. To illustrate, Table 1 shows employment estimates for each major occupational group under the 1990 classification and the percent of employment that was re-coded into the major groups based on the 2002 classification. These percentages could be applied to historical employment data on the 1990 classification to approximate employment on the 2002 classification. The resulting series provides a general employment trend over time but—given it is only an approximation—the data are not likely to be useful for precise point-to-point comparisons or measuring actual change over time.

Important notice to users of the conversion factors: Occupation and industry coding of Current Population Survey microdata records is carried out by the U.S. Census Bureau. Detailed occupational or industry classifications will sometimes have to be imputed or "allocated" when sufficient information to assign a classification cannot be obtained. In addition, despite best practices, some classification error will occur. The conversion factors incorporate classifications that were allocated or, on occasion, mis-assigned. As a result, users of these conversion factors may notice atypical occupations and industries appearing in the detailed distributions, but they generally represent a very small portion of employment. Users also should note that at the detailed classification level, all occupations and industries with less than 10,000 average employment are excluded from the tables. Within the distributions, percentages less than 0.05 will not be shown separately at either the detailed or major group level.

• Table 1. Distribution of employment from the 1990 to the 2002 Census Occupational Classification by major occupational group (HTML) (PDF 11KB)
• Table 2. Distribution of employment from the 2002 to the 1990 Census Occupational Classification by major occupational group (HTML) (PDF 11KB)
• Table 3. Distribution of employment from the 1990 to the 2002 Census Industrial Classification by major industry group (HTML) (PDF 11KB)
• Table 4. Distribution of employment from the 2002 to the 1990 Census Industrial Classification by major industry group (HTML) (PDF 11KB)
• Table 5. Distribution of employment from the 1990 to the 2002 Census Occupational Classification by detailed occupation (PDF 1.5MB)
• Table 6. Distribution of employment from the 2002 to the 1990 Census Occupational Classification by detailed occupation (PDF 1.1MB)
• Table 7. Distribution of employment from the 1990 to the 2002 Census Industry Classification by detailed industry (PDF 1.1MB)
• Table 8. Distribution of employment from the 2002 to the 1990 Census Industry Classification by detailed industry (PDF 1.2MB)

Last Modified Date: January 18, 2007