South African SIC: Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities

SIC 7 has been in force in South Africa since 2013. It is aligned with the United Nation's ISIC Rev 4 up to the third (Group) level. SIC 7 has 420 fourth level categories (Classes) compared to 419 in ISIC Rev 4 due to an additional class 8414 (Extra budgetary account n.e.c.) under the Group 841 (Administration of the state and the economic and social policy of the community).

Changes Between SIC 6 and SIC 7

In SIC 7, the names of the classification levels changed. The Major Division, Division, Major Group, Group, and Subgroup of SIC 6 were respectively renamed in SIC 7 to Section, Division, Group, Class, and Subclass. Moreover, the coding of the first level changed from numbers in SIC 6 to letters of Latin alphabet in SIC 7. In terms of content, SIC 7 also substantially expanded in detail at all levels of the system. At the top of the hierarchy, the number of sections increased from 10 in SIC 6 to 21 in SIC 7, with new sections such as Section J (Information and communications). At the finer level, SIC 7 contains 52 more subclasses than SIC 6 with several new categories created to meet user requests.

Structure of SIC 7

• Section: 21 Sections identified by capital letters (A-U).

• Division: 88 Divisions identified by two-digit numeric codes (01-99)

• Group: 238 Groups identified by three-digit numeric codes (011-990)

• Class: 420 Classes identified by four-digit numeric codes (0111-9901)

• Subclass: 521 Subclasses identified by five-digit numeric codes (01110-99014).

The table below shows the number of categories in the divisions, groups and classes related to each of the 21 sections of SIC 7. The Section C (Manufacturing) is the most detailed with its 166 subclasses followed by Section G (Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles) with 58 subclasses, and Section N (Administrative and support service activities) with 32 subclasses. These top three sections together account for nearly half (49.14%) of the total number of subclasses in SIC 7. Agricultural activities (Section A) account for only 5% of subclasses.

Resources

• SIC 7 - Manual

SIC 6 operated in South Africa from 2006 to 2013. SIC 6 was based on ISIC Rev. 3.1, though (except at the three-digit level) the two are not exactly aligned. SIC 6 contains fewer categories than ISIC Rev. 3.1 at the first (10 vs 17) and second levels (55 vs 62), but more categories at the fourth level (313 vs 298).

Changes Between SIC 5 and SIC 6

The changes between SIC 5 and SIC 6 reflect the change in global standards from ISIC Rev. 3 to ISIC Rev. 3.1 and national circumstances. The changes in SIC 6 were mostly to do with the modification of categories with an extensive set of reclassifications and redefinitions of specific activities across the hierarchy of the classification system. Regarding new categories, notable developments include the separation of the SIC 5 Group 9200 (Educational services) into 9201 (General - GET - and Further education and training - FET - certificate) and 9202 (Higher Education and training - HET - certificate, Levels 5 to 8) along with finer categories to reflect changes in the structure of South Africa's education system at the time. Other additions to SIC 6 include those in the technology area such as the splitting of the SIC 5 Group 8620 (Software consultancy and supply) into the Subgroups 86201 (Software publishing) and 86209 (Other software consultancy and supply) and, in the health services area, the creation of the Subgroup 93123 (Other non-professional doctors, sangomas, faith-healers, etc.).

Structure of SIC 6

SIC 6 is structured into five levels, as follows

• Major Division: 10 Major Divisions identified by single digit numbers (0-9).

• Division: 55 Divisions identified by two-digit numeric codes (01-99)

• Major Group: 161 Major Groups identified by three-digit numeric codes (010-999)

• Group: 313 Groups identified by four-digit numeric codes (1111-9999)

• Subgroup: 479 Subclasses identified by five-digit numeric codes (11110-99999).

Resources

• SIC 6 - Manual

SIC 5 operated in South Africa from 1993 to 2006. SIC 5 was based on ISIC Rev. 3, though the two are not exactly aligned. SIC 5 contains fewer categories than ISIC Rev. 3 at the first (10 vs 17) and second levels (49 vs 60), but more categories at the fourth level (315 vs 292).

Structure of SIC 5

SIC 5 is structured into five levels, as follows

• Major Division: 10 Major Divisions identified by single digit numbers (0-9).

• Division: 49 Divisions identified by two-digit numeric codes (01-99)

• Major Group: 158 Major Groups identified by three-digit numeric codes (111-999)

• Group: 315 Groups identified by four-digit numeric codes (1111-9999)

• Subgroup: 466 Subclasses identified by five-digit numeric codes (11110-99999).

Resources

• SIC 5 - Manual

A fourth edition of South Africa's SIC based on ISIC Rev. 2 was published in October 1988, though its documentation is not publicly available.

Versions prior to SIC 4

It is uncertain when the third and second editions of South Africa's SIC were published. However, the documentation for the 1980 population census in South Africa includes an (undated) ISIC-based industrial classification system. The first edition of South Africa's SIC was published in 1970, but its documentation is also not publicly available.