 
|
|
ANNEXURE 3: Occupational Categories
Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS ANNEXURE?
This annexure provides a summary of definitions for occupational categories which may
be used by employers when completing forms EEA 2 and EEA 4.
INSTRUCTIONS
Each occupational category contains a description and illustrative list of occupations
that may be included in that category. The complete guideline to occupational categories
may be obtained from Statistics SA.
1. Legislators, Senior Officials and managers
This group includes occupations whose main tasks consist of determining and formulating
policy and strategic planning, or planning, directing and co-ordinating the policies and
activities of the organisation in the private and public sectors, determining and
formulating laws and for directing and controlling the functions of the organisation.
Includes: chief executive officer; president; vice-president; chief operating officers;
general managers and divisional heads, managers who provide the direction of a critical
technical function; postmaster; superintendent; dean and school principal etc.
2. Professionals
This group includes occupations whose main tasks require a high level of professional
knowledge and experience in the fields of physical and life sciences, or social sciences
and humanities. The main tasks consist of increasing the existing stock of knowledge,
applying scientific and artistic concepts and theories to the solution of problems, and
teaching about the foregoing in a systematic manner. Includes: engineers (civil,
mechanical, chemical, electrical, petroleum, nuclear, aerospace, etc.); architects;
lawyers; biologists; geologists; psychologists; accountants; physicists, system analysts;
assayers; valuators; town and traffic planners etc.
3. Technicians and Associate Professionals
This group includes occupations whose main tasks require technical knowledge and
experience in one or more fields of the physical and life sciences, or the social sciences
and humanities. The main tasks consist of carrying out technical work connected with the
application of concepts and operational methods in the above-mentioned fields and in
teaching at certain educational levels. Includes: computer programmers; nurses;
physio-and-occupational therapists; draftsmen/women; musicians; actors; photographers;
illustrating artists; product designers; radio and television announcers; translators and
interpreters; writers and editors; specialised inspectors and testers of electronic,
electrical, mechanical, etc. products; vocational instructors; technicians (medical,
engineering, architectural, dental, physical science, life science, library, etc.); pilot;
broker; designer; quality inspector etc.
4. Clerks
This group includes occupations whose main tasks require the knowledge and experience
necessary to organise, store, compute and retrieve information. The main tasks consist of
performing secretarial duties, operating word processors and other office machines,
recording and computing numerical data, and performing a number of customer orientated
clerical duties, mostly in connection with mail services, money-handling operations and
appointments. Includes all clerical work, regardless of difficulty, in which the
activities are predominantly non-manual. Includes: bookkeepers; tellers; cashiers;
collectors (bills and accounts); messengers and office helpers; office machine operators;
mail clerks; typists; telephone operators; electronic data processing equipment operators;
clerks (production, shipping and receiving, stock, scheduling, ticket, freight, library,
reception, travel, hotel, personnel, statistical, general office); secretaries etc.
5. Service and Sales Workers
This group includes occupations whose main tasks require the knowledge and experience
necessary to provide personal and protective services and to sell goods in shops or
markets. The main tasks consist of providing services related to travel, housekeeping,
catering, personal care, protection of individuals and property, and maintaining law and
order, or selling goods in shops or markets.
Includes: attendants (hospital and other institutions, including nurses’ aides
and orderlies); barbers; bartenders; guides; food and beverage serving occupations;
housekeepers; childcare occupations; conductors; fire-fighters; police offices;
advertising agents; real estate agents; sales workers and sales clerks; shop attendants;
stock brokers; insurance brokers; travel agents; sales people of technical and business
services; etc.
6. Skilled Agricultural and Fishery Workers
This group includes occupations whose main tasks require the knowledge and experience
necessary to produce farm, forestry and fishery products. The main tasks consist of
growing crops, breeding or hunting animals, catching or cultivating fish, conserving and
working forests, and selling agricultural and fishery products to purchasers. Includes:
farmers; growers; planter; viticulturists; winemakers; skilled horticultural workers;
greenkeepers; skilled fishermen/women etc.
7. Craft and Related Trades
This group includes occupations whose main tasks require the knowledge and experience
of skilled trades and handicrafts which, among other things, involve an understanding of
materials and tools to be used, as well as all stages of the production process, including
the characteristics and the intended use of the final product. They are frequently
journeymen/women who have received an extensive period of training The main tasks consist
of extracting raw materials, constructing buildings and other structures and making
various products, as well as handicraft goods. Includes: miners; quarriers;
stoneworkers; bricklayers; stonemasons; carpenters; shopfitters; plasterers; plumbers;
electricians; painters; mechanics; glass-makers; locksmiths; sheet metal workers; etc.
8. Plant and Machine Operators and Assemblers
This group includes occupations whose main tasks require the knowledge and experience
necessary to operate and monitor large-scale and often highly automated industrial
machinery and equipment. The main tasks consist of operating and monitoring of mining,
processing, and production machinery and equipment, as well as driving vehicles and
driving and operating mobile plant, or assembling products from components. Includes:
truck and tractor drivers; bus drivers; paving, surfacing and related occupations;
roofers; photographic processors; sound and video recording equipment operators; those in
apprenticeship training; textile workers; production machine workers etc.
9. Elementary Occupations
This group covers occupations which require relatively low/elementary levels of
knowledge and experience necessary to perform mostly simple and routine tasks, involving
the use of hand held tools and in some cases considerable physical effort, and, with few
exceptions, limited personal initiative and judgement. The main tasks consist of selling
goods in streets, door-keeping and property watching, as well as cleaning, washing,
pressing, and working as labourers in the fields of mining, agriculture and fishing,
construction and manufacturing. Includes: news and other vendors; garage
attendants; car washers and greasers; gardeners; farm labourers; unskilled railway track
workers; labourers performing lifting, digging, mixing, loading, and pulling operations;
garbage collectors; stevedores; sweepers; charworkers etc.
top  |
