NOC 2021
Every ten years, the National Occupational Classification (NOC) undergoes a major structural revision whereby the framework of the Classification and the existing occupational groups are reviewed. The release of the NOC 2021 will be the product of this 10-year cycle and will reflect changes in the economy and in the nature of work.
The NOC 2021 is the result of a major revision cycle that involved in-depth research, analysis, and assessment of the input received through consultations and occupational research. Input from the public and stakeholders has been an integral part of the revision process.
The NOC 2021 was developed in partnership with Statistics Canada and will be published on Employment and Social Development Canada’s (ESDC) website in the coming months. However, in order to provide organizations and programs with enough time to make a proper transition from NOC 2016 to NOC 2021, the latter is expected to be implemented and become the official classification used by ESDC in the second half of 2022.
Summary of changes
The new NOC 2021 includes structural changes such as the addition, aggregation or merging, and splitting of unit groups as well as the reorganization of certain groups across broad occupational categories and Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) categories. The new NOC 2021 also:
- Overhauls the current four-category NOC "Skill level" structure by introducing a new six-category system representing the level of Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) required for entry in an occupation.
- Adopts a five-tiered hierarchical arrangement of occupational groups with successive levels of disaggregation containing broad occupational categories, major groups, sub-major groups, minor groups, and unit groups.
- Introduces a brand new five-digit codification system to replace the current four-digit system.
NOC concordance tables
Please view the NOC concordance tables for more details regarding all the changes made to the NOC.
Additional information about the NOC process
More information about the NOC revision process is available in the About the NOC section of the website.
The National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 is based on a five-tiered hierarchical structure. The first level contains 10 broad occupational categories, the second level is made up of 45 major groups, the third level consists of 89 sub-major groups, the fourth level gathers 162 minor groups, and the last level comprises 516 unit groups.
The hierarchy and structure presented below allows you to drill down from one of the broad occupational categories to its associated unit groups and access the profile page of a unit group.
It is possible to select a previous version of the classification (NOC 2006, 2011, and 2016) to see its hierarchy and structure.