South Carolina Occupational Classification Codes

At A Glance

• Effective 1st quarter 2024, every employer with 10 or more employees must report Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes electronically.

Overview

In August 2023, South Carolina signed the Statewide Education and Workforce Development Act requiring employers with 10 or more employees to file the “Employer Quarterly Contribution and Wage Reports” with additional reporting of Standard Occupational Classification (SOC). SOC is a system used by federal agencies to classify workers into occupational categories.

Previously, the agency did not require employers to report the SOC code and number of hours worked by employee for the reporting period (each quarter). Moving forward, the agency will require employers to report the number of hours employee worked in the reporting period along with the SOC code.

Starting in the first quarter of 2024, employers will see an option to report SOC codes information for their employees in the quarterly wage file reports due by April 30, 2024. The new fields are currently live in the SUITS portal, and employers may get a head start to populate the required information now. The SOC code information entered by the employer is saved in SUITS from quarter to quarter unless changes are made by the employer. However, reporting the SOC codes for the fourth quarter of 2023 will be optional and will be required by the beginning of January 2024.

The agency recommends using two tools to assist employers in looking up the correct SOC code for their employees:

• OccuCoder: South Carolina Job code matching application that allows you to search job titles to find appropriate SOC code.
• SOC Code Descriptions Page: South Carolina website that allows you to quickly choose the area of work to see all the SOC codes and their descriptions in categories.

The data will give South Carolina businesses an advantage in hiring and building their workforce as the data is used by stakeholders to support education, training, infrastructure, childcare, and transportation to promote a robust and thriving workforce.

For more information on South Carolina wage and payroll tax laws, check out our South Carolina Wage and Payroll Tax Facts page.

Next Steps

The agency is encouraging employers to use the SOC code lookup tool that has the most accurate codes for each employee type.

If you need to make an appointment with a member of the agency's Labor Market Information team to help you pick the right SOC code, go to the scheduler and book a time for a virtual meeting.

Paylocity will continue to monitor for updates and provide additional details on any action required  as more information becomes available.