Apprenticeship and industry codes: ONET, SOC, and RAPIDS

If you've been around apprenticeships a little while, you'll notice all of these codes associated with apprenticeships. What are they? Where do they come from?

Here's a few examples of what we mean:

And these:

So what are they, anyways? There's essentially two core categorization systems -- O*NET and RAPIDS -- for occupations in the apprenticeship system.

O*NET

ONET is the nations primary source of occupational information. It's maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor for all kinds of things beyond apprenticeship. ONET codes encompass a whole bunch of information about particular jobs, their industries, and more. For a single example, let's look at the ONET page for electricians with the code 47-2111.00.

ONET pages have a list of occupation tasks, skills, activities, requirements, education, opportunities -- all kinds of information that helps define and categorize the occupation. ONET definitions are not set in stone. There's various updates every few years to ensure occupation descriptions evolve with the economy. For our needs, we're going to just pay attention to how this impacts apprenticeships. For one, every apprenticeship is going to need an ONET code. The ONET code allows the DOL to compare standards across programs without worrying about different naming systems for the occupation. If there's an existing minimum set of standards for code 47-2111.00 then your apprenticeship standards need to meet that criteria, regardless of whether you call the occupation an electrician, electrical worker, etc.

Code explained

Let's break down the code a bit: 47-2111.00

• 47: The first two numbers of an ONET code represent a major career group. Construction.

• 47-2: The third digit represents a minor group. Skilled Trades.

• 47-211: The fourth and fith represent a broad occupation. Electrician

• 47-2111: The six represents a detailed occupation. 1 indicates the broad occupation still.

• 47-2111.00: Any additional digits after a decimal represent highly specific occupational information. 00 indicates a more general definition.

SOC

ONET codes encompasses a lot of the SOC information as well. SOC is the Standard Occupational Classification and generally represents everything in an ONET code prior to the decimals so the SOC for an electrician is 47-2111.

RAPIDS

RAPIDS codes are just another occupational code, but they're coming from a different system. RAPIDS codes come from the federal database named, you guessed it, RAPIDS. RAPIDS is the Registered Apprenticeship Partners Information Database System. RAPIDS has its own codes for identifying apprenticeable occupations. The RAPIDS code for electricians is 0159. Now, you may find RAPIDS codes that include letters as well as 4 digit numbers such as 1125HY for Accounting Technicians or 1101CB for Air Traffic Controllers. These letters indicate a hybrid or competency-based version of the occupation. As we described in our article on apprenticeship approaches - time, competency, and hybrid - all occupations were previously time-based. Rather than create new numbers for the same occupation, RAPIDS codes now simply encompass the approach indicator of HY or CB to indicate a non-time based occupation.

ONET RAPIDS Crosswalk

There's a few ways for you to look up ONET codes and their corresponding RAPIDS code. ONET has a crosswalk that you can use to search their system directly for RAPIDS codes. Alternatively, you can pull up the apprenticeable occupations list on apprenticeship.gov to find matching codes.

Why it matters

In all honesty, it might not matter for you beyond your initial registration. It certainly helps with labor statistics so the government can account for where its seeing apprenticeships. Your ONET and RAPIDS codes will go on the top of your Appendix A if you're registering with an OA state. In some states, you wont deal with the RAPIDS code at all. If a state does not use the DOL's RAPIDS system -- of which there are about a dozen -- then the RAPIDS code doesn't mean anything to them. Instead, you'll often find just the ONET code on standards in states like California or even the SOC code in states like Washington.

The one time where it may matter is when you have options as to which ONET code you want to choose. You may find that the perfect ONET code has not yet been approved as an apprenticeable occupation. In which case, a slightly adjacent ONET code may better serve your needs for being registered. This can certainly impact the duration of your program as you seek to meet the minimum standard, so it's a decision that shouldn't be taken lightly.

So there you have it! ONET and RAPIDS. Now you'll know a bit more about what all of those codes are floating around the system.