Field entry, published 2026-11-03T00:00:00.000Z, updated 2026-11-03T00:00:00.000Z. Group: Major Group 6: Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers

Why is agricultural work at skill level 2?

Agricultural, forestry and fishery work in Major Group 6 sits at skill level 2 in ISCO-08 because the work requires skilled judgement over a range of tasks, rather than only simple routine execution or advanced professional knowledge. Skill level in ISCO-08 is a property of the occupation, measured by the complexity and range of its tasks and duties. It is not a grade given to a person or a certificate held by a worker. Major Group 6 earns level 2 because its typical tasks sit in the middle of that complexity scale: varied, consequential and seasonally changing, without requiring the extended theoretical knowledge that defines higher levels.

How does ISCO-08 define skill level?

ISCO-08 defines skill as the ability to carry out the tasks and duties of a job, and skill level as a function of their complexity and range. Three kinds of evidence are considered: the nature of the work itself; the level of formal education normally required for competent performance; and the amount of informal on the job training or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance. No single piece of evidence decides a level on its own. A job can be skilled through schooling, training, experience, or a combination of all three. That flexibility matters greatly for agriculture, forestry and fishing, where competence is often built through seasons of practice as well as through formal courses.

What does level 2 look like in education terms?

The ILO mapping links skill level 2 to lower secondary, upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education. That mapping is a guide to typical preparation, not a rule that every skilled agricultural worker must hold a particular qualification. It signals that the work normally needs more than primary schooling alone, in literacy, numeracy, technical understanding and the ability to follow and adapt plans. A grower who calculates seed rates, keeps production records and operates machinery is using that range of abilities, as is a fisher who navigates, maintains gear and grades a catch. The mapping therefore describes task complexity in familiar schooling terms, rather than imposing a hiring requirement.

Why is this work not at skill level 1?

Skill level 1 work in ISCO-08 generally involves simple, routine tasks, often physical, carried out with limited judgement and under close supervision. Simple labouring tasks such as planting, picking, clearing or carrying as instructed illustrate that task character, although the ILO summary table assigns Major Group 9 itself to skill level 2. Skilled Major Group 6 work goes further. A crop grower plans a rotation and adjusts it when rain fails. An animal producer changes feeding or housing when health or weather changes. A forestry worker judges which trees to thin and how to fell safely. A fishery worker decides where to fish and when to return. Those decisions carry consequences: a wrong harvest date, a missed disease sign or an unsafe felling choice can lose income, stock or life. The presence of that consequential judgement, exercised across a changing season, is what lifts the work above level 1.

Why is this work not at skill level 3 or 4?

Skill level 3 generally involves complex technical and practical tasks requiring an extensive body of factual, technical and procedural knowledge, while skill level 4 involves complex problem solving based on an extensive body of theoretical and factual knowledge, often at a professional level. Agricultural scientists, veterinarians, forestry engineers and similar professionals belong at those higher levels because their main work is scientific analysis, diagnosis, design or research across many cases. A skilled grower, producer, forestry worker or fisher uses deep practical knowledge of a particular holding, forest or fishery, but the main tasks remain production itself, not research or professional advice as a service to others. The classification therefore keeps production and professional advice separate, even when both require great expertise in their own terms.

How do skill level and skill specialisation differ?

Skill level and skill specialisation are the two dimensions that organise ISCO-08, and confusing them is the most common reading error. Skill level answers how complex and wide ranging the tasks are. Skill specialisation answers what field of knowledge, tools, materials and goods or services are involved. Within Major Group 6, the level stays at 2, while specialisation changes sharply: soil and plant knowledge for crop growers, animal husbandry for producers, forest ecology and timber for forestry workers, and aquatic species and gear for fishery workers. The level says the jobs share comparable complexity. The specialisation says they do not share the same knowledge, which is why they split into separate groups below the major group.

What should readers remember about level 2?

Level 2 is best read as a statement about the job, not about the person doing it. A highly experienced farmer or a forestry worker with decades of practice is still described by the level of the occupation, not by personal biography, and a newcomer learning the job does not change that level while learning. ISCO-08 needs that stability so statistics can be compared across countries, years and surveys. Major Group 6 sits at level 2 because its production, taken as a whole, requires varied, consequential judgement learned through education, training and experience, while remaining production work rather than routine labour or professional science.

Sources checked

1. ISCO-08, International Labour Organization

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