Essential Skills Profiles and the National Occupational Classification (NOC) system are both tools developed and used by the Government of Canada. Essential Skills Profiles describe how each of the nine skills is used by workers in a particular occupation, while the NOC is a framework for organizing all occupations in the Canadian labour market, enabling government to classify occupational information from statistical surveys and to describe occupations in a standardized way.

In this audio file, host Véronique Cadieux interviews Amy Read, an advisor with the federal government, about how the profiles relate to the NOC system.

Read explains that the NOC is a four-tiered framework, going from the broadest occupational categories down to the most specific. At the most specific level, each group is represented by a four-digit numerical code that signifies skill type and level, along with where that occupation fits in terms of major and minor occupational groupings, and specific occupations.

The research on Essential Skills information for occupations is built on the framework of the NOC, ensuring that skills can be compared accurately. The title of an Essential Skills profile includes the four-digit code from the NOC.

The interview also includes information on a revision to the NOC system carried out in 2011, and offers users of Essential Skills Profiles tips for navigating the new structure.

 

Click the play button to hear the audio file.