Standard Occupational Classification Codes: Gaps in Federal Data on the Public Health Workforce

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether US Department of Labor standard occupational classification (SOC) codes can be used for public health workforce research. Methods: We reviewed past attempts at SOC matching for public health occupations and then used the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Industry and Occupation Computerized Coding System (NIOCCS) to match the actual job titles for 26,516 respondents to the 2021 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey (PH WINS) with SOC codes, grouped by respondents’ choice of job category in PH WINS. We assessed the accuracy of the NIOCCS matches and excluded matches under a cutpoint using the Youden Index. We assessed the percentage of SOC matches with insufficient information and diversity of SOC matches per PH WINS category using the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index. Results: Several key public health occupations do not have a SOC code, including disease intervention specialist, public health nurse, policy analyst, program manager, grants or contracts specialist, and peer counselor. Conclusions: Without valid SOC matches and detailed data on local and state government health departments, the US Department of Labor’s data cannot be used for public health workforce enumeration.