Appendix 2.5 - Empirical concordance: National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2011 – National Occupational Classification Statistics (NOC-S) 2006

Introduction to the empirical concordance

The NOC 2011-NOC-S 2006 and NOC-S 2006 NOC 2011 empirical concordances present relationships between categories of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2011 classification and those of the National Occupational Classification for Statistics (NOC-S) 2006, based on information provided by the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS). The concordances provide mappings of the distributional relationships between the two classifications and can be used to convert counts from one classification system to the other.

The proportional distributions in the empirical concordances are based on weighted responses to the occupation questions in the 2011 NHS for the target population (Canada, employed persons aged 15 years and over in private households). Write-in responses to the occupation questions were coded first according to the NOC 2011 and then a second time using the NOC-S 2006 classification.

Since the concordances are based on the 2011 responses of employed Canadians, aged 15 years and over in private households, users should be aware that the proportional relationships in the table will be more precise when a similar population is being considered. The table can be expected to reflect with less precision the distributions of different time periods, geographies or subpopulations (such as age, sex, ethnicity, etc.). When using the tables to convert from NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006 or from NOC-S 2006 to NOC 2011, users should also be aware that calculations of categories with fewer counts are subject to greater variability and rounding error.

How to read the NOC (National Occupational Classification) 2011 and NOC-S (National Occupational Classification for Statistics) 2006 empirical concordance tables

The empirical concordances are presented in the form of tables arranged in the sequence of the classification shown on the left side of the table. There are both NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006 and NOC-S 2006 to NOC 2011 concordances. Either table may be used to convert NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006 or NOC-S 2006 to NOC 2011 by using the appropriate 'Share' column on the right hand side of the table.

The NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006 concordance is presented in the order of the NOC 2011 code, with the NOC 2011 code shown on the left side of the table. The NOC-S 2006 categories associated with a given NOC 2011 category are shown to the right of the NOC 2011 title. Each line of the table represents a unique NOC 2011-NOC-S 2006 combination. The column titled 'Share of NOC 2011' presents the percentage of the NOC 2011 category total that is accounted for by the specific NOC-S 2006 code. This column will add up to 100% for the NOC 2011 category shown on the left side of the table.

Similarly, the NOC-S 2006 to NOC 2011 concordance is presented in the order of the NOC-S 2006 category, with the NOC-S 2006 categories on the left side of the table. The NOC 2011 categories associated with a given NOC-S 2006 category are shown to the right of the NOC 2011. Each line of the table represents a unique NOC-S 2006 NOC 2011 combination. The column titled 'Share of NOC-S 2006' presents the percentage of the total NOC-S 2006 category that is accounted for by the specific NOC 2011 code. This column will add up to 100% for the NOC-S 2006 category shown on the left side of the table.

The following explanations are based on the NOC 2011-NOC-S 2006 concordance tables. Note that the same principles also apply to the interpretation and use of the NOC-S 2006 NOC 2011 tables.

Example 1:
NOC 2011-NOC-S 2006: A NOC 2011 category is associated with multiple NOC-S 2006 categories

In this case, the NOC 2011 category '0124 Advertising, marketing and public relations managers' is associated with three NOC-S 2006 categories. The first line of the table indicates that 90.5% of the total number of individuals whose occupation was 0124 under the NOC 2011 classification were coded to 'A131 - Sales, marketing and advertising managers' under the NOC-S 2006 classification. The second NOC-S 2006 category contributes 7.3% and the third contributes 2.2% (90.5+7.3+2.2=100).

Converting data from NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006 using the empirical concordance

Prior to converting data coded according to either NOC 2011 or NOC-S 2006, ensure that the dataset to be converted does not include NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006 categories not found in the concordance tables. These must first be removed from consideration or, as in the case with the NOC-S 2006 data, merged with other categories. (For more information on NOC-S 2006 merged categories, refer to the definition for Occupation based on the National Occupational Classification Statistics (NOC-S) 2006.) Users may also find it easier to remove totals and sub-totals from the datasets they wish to convert.

Users are also advised to consider whether their population for conversion is similar to the target population upon which the concordance tables are based (Canada, employed persons aged 15 years and over in private households).

Users wishing to convert entire distributions of a given classification may find it easier to work with the downloaded versions of the concordance tables that provide titles and codes for each NOC 2011-NOC-S 2006 combination.

How to convert from NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006 using NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006 concordance

Using the portion of the NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006 concordance shown in example 1 above, assume it is known that there are 500 observations coded to 0124 Advertising, marketing and public relations managers. To distribute these observations to their respective NOC-S 2006 codes:

Note that when using the NOC 2011-NOC-S 2006 concordance to convert NOC 2011 to NOC-S 2006, the process must be applied to the entire distribution of NOC 2011 codes in the population since the NOC-S 2006 codes are in most cases associated with multiple codes. The three calculated shares in column E represent only portions of their respective NOC-S 2006 categories. For example, NOC-S 2006 A131 Sales, marketing and advertising managers is associated with three other NOC 2011 categories: 0601 Corporate sales managers, 0621 Retail and wholesale trade managers and 1123 Professional occupations in advertising, marketing and public relations. The shares of NOC-S 2006 code A131 deriving from these NOC 2011 codes must also be known before arriving at a total for NOC-S 2006 code A131.

After column E has been calculated for all NOC 2011-NOC-S 2006 combinations, these values can then be regrouped in order to calculate totals by NOC-S 2006. The difference between the sum of NOC 2011 totals in the original dataset and the sum of the calculated NOC-S 2006 totals will be the rounding error (provided that all NOC 2011 codes in the original dataset appear in the concordance table).

NOC 2011-NOC-S 2006 concordance tables

NOC-S 2006-NOC 2011 concordance tables