Canada NOC List 2023: Understanding NOC Codes

The NOC Skill Level identifies the occupations by the amount and type of education and training that is generally required. There are four Skill Levels in the NOC matrix:

Skill Level A: Occupations that usually require university education. The nature of education/training includes:

• University degree at the bachelor's, master's, or doctorate level.

Skill Level B: Occupations that usually require college education or apprenticeship training. The nature of education/training include:

• Two to three years of post-secondary education at a community college, institute of technology, or CEGEP or
• Two to five years of apprenticeship training or
• Three to four years of secondary school and more than two years of on-the-job training, specialized training courses, or specific work experience.
• Occupations with supervisory responsibilities and occupations with significant health and safety responsibilities, such as firefighters, police officers, and registered nursing assistants are all assigned skill level B.

Skill Level C: Occupations that usually require secondary school and/or occupation-specific training. The nature of education/training include:

• Some secondary school education, with up to two years of on-the-job training, training courses, or specific work experience

Skill Level D: Occupations that usually require on-the-job training. The nature of education/training include:

• Short work demonstration or on-the-job training or
• No formal educational requirements.

Each of these Skill Levels is usually represented by the second digit in NOC codes:

A – 0 or 1 B – 2 or 3 C – 4 or 5 D – 6 or 7

The first digit of a NOC code indicates the Skill Type, while the second digit indicates Skill Level. The only exception to this formula is occupations in Skill Type 0: Management occupations. Since there are management occupations in each employment industry, the second digit of all management occupations indicates the industry of the occupation.

NOC Major or Minor Groups may be mentioned in immigration program instructions at times.

NOC Major Groups: The first two digits of a NOC code are referred to as Major Groups. For example, Major Group 31 refers to the majority of healthcare professions (Skill Type 3) that often need a university education (Skill Level A). All of these occupations will be allocated a NOC code beginning with the letters 31. Dentists (3113), pharmacists (3131), and dietitians (3132) are among those included.

NOC Minor Groups: The first three digits of a NOC code are referred to as Minor Groups. Within each main group, they put together professions that are comparable. Judges (4111) and lawyers (4112), for example, are both in Minor Group 411. Minor Group 415 includes both social workers (4152) and family counsellors (4153). It's worth noting that the first two numbers of each minor group correspond to the main group to which it belongs. Major Group 41 in this case.