Petter Nygård - ESCO 1.2 launch event - SE presentation Mapping national classifications to ESCO (1) - presentation

Oct 23, 2026

Presentation mapping national classifications to ESCO for the ESCO 1.2 event (22 May 2024). It outlines Swedish employment-related classifications covering occupations (SE national classification) and skills (Arbetsförmedlingen), including their ownership, update cycle, and links to ISCO-08 and ESCO. The talk explains the relational data model, governance structure, mapping methodology, timeline of mapping iterations between SE and ESCO, key challenges (granularity, discrepancies, translations), resulting match rates, and ongoing maintenance and version management benefits.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

SE Classifications

Overview

Data model

Governance

Mapping process

Methodology

Challenges

Results

Mappings maintenance

Update processs

Version management

Benefits of mapping

Lessons learned

Mapping to ESCO Petter Nygård, Arbetsförmedlingen ESCO 1.2 event, 22 May 2024 Mapping to ESCO ● SE Classifications o Overview o Data model o Governance ● Mapping process o Methodology o Challenges o Results ● Mappings maintenance o Update processs o Version management o Benefits of mapping ● Lessons learned SE classifications overview -Occupations ● SE national classification for occupations ● Distributed and updated by Arbetsförmedlingen (Swedish PES) ● SSYK 2012-Swedish Standard Classification of Occupations ● Based on and linked to ISCO-08, adapted to the Swedish labour market ● Owned and managed by Statistics Sweden, follows ISCO update cycle ● 400 occupations groups , equivalent to ISCO level 4 ● Ca 3600 occupations in occupation groups , equivalent to ISCO level 5 ● No further hierarchy ● Ca 8000 jobtitles linked to occupations SE classifications overview -Skills ● Owned, distributed and updated by Arbetsförmedlingen (Swedish PES) ● Does not follow any standard hierarchy ● 55 skill groups with ca 6400 individual skill concepts ● A few skill collections o Green skills, Digital skills and more currently in the works ● Skills linked to one or more occupation groups (ISCO level 4) ● Skills not linked to occupations o Work in progress – identifying “essential” skills for the most common occupations SE classifications – Data model ● Relational database-describes relations between concepts ● Broader – occupation has a broad relation to occupation group ● Narrower – Occupation group has a narrow relation to occupation ● Related – skill has a related relation to occupation group ● ESCO skos relation types for mappings SE classifications – Data model cont. a onomy ypes and elations continent roader country roader region roader municipality skill group roader generic skill group roader generic skill sni le el roader sni le el roader sni le el roader sni le el roader sni le el possi le com inations SE classifications – Governance model ● Classifications and standards owned and updated by others o Education, Industry Index (NACE), forecast data, geography data, etc. ● Occupations and skills updated by Arbetsförmedlingen ● Team of four occupational analysts ● Ad hoc update process o User suggestions, legislation, search trends, media coverage, etc. ● Mostly manual process through stakeholder consultation ● Machine based tools offer insight and suggestions ● A three-level quality structure for concepts o Level 1 – concept is validated/requested by an agency, employer organisation, trade union committee o Level 2 – concept is validated/requested by a firm o Level 3 – concept is validated through in-house research Mapping process – Methodology ● Done in-house by the taxonomy team of 3 – 4 occupational analysts ● Mapping made a priority and integrated as part of the daily work flow ● Relied heavily on the ESCO mapping manual ● Mostly manual process with AI-tools for mapping suggestions | Time line | Mapping | Tools | | --- | --- | --- | | 2019-2020 | SE occupations > ESCO occupations | ESCO mapping platform | | 2020-2021 | ESCO occupations > SE occupations | ESCO mapping platform | | 2022 | SE skills > ESCO skills | Excel, AI-tools | | 2022 – 2023 | ESCO skills > SE skills | In-house taxonomy editor | | 2024- | Continous mapping SE <> ESCO | In-house taxonomy editor, ESCO suggestions | | | | | Mapping process-Challanges ● Discrepancies between ESCO and national classifications o ISCO vs. SSYK, semantic granularity, number of concepts, occupational qualifications, prevalence of sectors ● Semantic granularity in ESCO o ‘Phle otomist’, ‘Foot ear D de eloper’, ‘Aircraft interior technician’ o Climb on railcars, Advise on childbirth, Assist tree identification o Kno ledge concept ‘economics’ – essential for 38 occupations ● ESCO skills/competencies hierarchy could be less complex

FAQs

What are the Swedish (SE) classifications covered in the presentation?

The presentation covers SE classifications for occupations and skills. Occupations are based on SSYK 2012, linked to ISCO-08 and adapted to the Swedish labour market, while skills are owned and maintained by Arbetsförmedlingen.

How does the mapping process work between ESCO and SE classifications?

Mapping is prioritized and integrated into daily workflow by a small in-house team. It relies heavily on the ESCO mapping manual, uses mostly manual work with AI-tool suggestions, and follows an iterative timeline of mapping directions between SE and ESCO.

What challenges and results are highlighted from the mapping work?

Challenges include discrepancies between ESCO and national classifications, semantic granularity, less satisfactory translations, and complexity of the ESCO skills hierarchy. Results summarize match quality, including broad/close/narrow/exact match percentages for both SE skills→ESCO and SE occupations→ESCO.

Oct 23, 2026

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