A Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code is a six-digit code from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics that identifies an employee's occupation — for example, 111011 for chief executives. Some states require an occupation code for each employee on the quarterly state unemployment insurance wage reports that Workforce files on your behalf. If a required code is missing, the state can reject the filing.

In Workforce, SOC codes are assigned at the team level. Each employee's code comes from their default team, so once your teams have codes assigned, the right code flows through to state filings automatically. For an overview of the filings Workforce submits, see Tax Filings.

An employee needs a SOC code when their work state is one of the following:

The work state comes from the tax jurisdictions assigned to the employee's location — not from their home address. That means a remote employee whose location is in Washington needs a SOC code even if they live in another state. For more on how locations determine tax jurisdictions, see How Locations Affect Payroll.

For teams in all other states, the SOC Code field is optional and has no effect on filings.

Navigate to Workforce > Teams, edit the team, and scroll to the Job Classification section. Enter the code in the SOC Code field and save the team.

You can look up the full list of codes at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics — the same link is shown under the field. Workforce checks that the code is six digits, but it does not check the code against the BLS list, so double-check that the code you enter is a real one that matches the work performed. A well-formed but incorrect code will pass Workforce's checks and can still be rejected by the state.

Each team holds one SOC code, and every employee inherits the code from their default team. If a team mixes occupations that need different codes, split them into separate teams. SOC codes are entered on each team individually — the Teams CSV import does not include a SOC code column.

Workforce flags missing SOC codes in two places. Both apply to employees only — contractors are not affected.

On the pay run. If an employee's work state requires a SOC code and no code resolves from their team, the pay run shows a blocking error and cannot be posted: "[Employee]'s team is missing a Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code, which their work state requires on quarterly unemployment filings." The error row links directly to the team's edit page — add the code, then recalculate the pay run to clear the error. For more on pay run errors, see Payroll Blockers.

Before the pay run. The US Payroll Readiness template on the Individual Paychecks Report includes a missing SOC code check, so you can catch gaps ahead of payroll rather than at posting time. For how to run paycheck reports, see Payroll Reporting.