About the National Occupational Classification

Historically, the National Occupational Classification (NOC) has undergone updates every five years to reflect content changes, such as revisions to lead statements, main duties, and employment requirements, and every ten years for structural changes, which involve major revisions to the classification framework and the composition of unit groups. The last major structural revision took place in 2021. Unusually, the upcoming 2026 revision has also been designated a major revision, meaning it will include both content and structural updates.

The 2026 revision of the NOC will introduce updates to over 150 unit groups, representing roughly one third of all NOC unit groups. While most changes involve content updates, several unit groups will undergo more substantial structural revisions. Key areas of focus suggested for this update include:

• A collaborative review of Indigenous-related content, conducted in partnership with Indigenous communities, to ensure the information is accurate, respectful, and current.
• Refinements to specific occupations in health, science, and public protection to better reflect current roles and requirements, informed by feedback from stakeholders during the consultation process.
• Comprehensive overhauls of selected occupations in education and emergency services to more accurately reflect current duties and responsibilities, grounded in thorough internal research.

The objective of the revision is to better capture the evolving roles associated with some occupations, better delineate occupations that share similar roles, and update outdated information, notably in relation with employment requirement, main duties, and job titles.

More detailed information about these changes will be released in October 2025 by Employment and Social Development Canada and Statistics Canada. Stay tuned!

An occupation is defined as a collection of jobs that are sufficiently similar in work performed to be grouped under a common label for classification purposes. A job, in turn, encompasses all the tasks carried out by a particular worker to complete their duties.

The basic principle of the classification of the NOC is the kind of work performed. Job titles are identified and grouped primarily in terms of the work usually performed, this being determined by the tasks, duties, employment requirements, and responsibilities associated with each occupation. Factors such as the materials processed or used, the industrial processes and the equipment used, the degree of responsibility and complexity of work, as well as the products made and services provided, have been taken as indicators of the work performed when combining jobs titles into occupations and occupations into groups.

The NOC comprises more than 40,000 job titles gathered into 516 unit groups, organized according to six Training, Education, Experience and Responsibilities (TEER) categories and ten broad occupational categories. Unit groups are based on similarity of tasks, defined primarily by functions and employment requirements. Unit groups can often be linked directly to one occupation (such as NOC 31110 – Dentists) or to more than one occupation (such as NOC 72600 – Air pilots, flight engineers and flying instructors). Each unit group provides a short description of its associated occupation(s), lists its main duties and employment requirements, and provides examples of job titles.

Students, workers, employers, career and vocational counsellors, and educational and training organizations use the NOC on a daily basis to support career and vocational decisions. The classification is also used to support policy development and program design and administration as well as service delivery.

The NOC has been developed as part of a collaborative partnership between Employment and Social Development Canada and Statistics Canada. The two departments also work together to maintain and update the NOC. The NOC 2021 version focused on structural changes, such as the move to a 5-digit system and the introduction of a new six-tiered TEER category to replace the skill levels. Updates to the classification will continue on a regular basis.