The Update And Enlightenment Of International Standard Industrial Classification

The International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC) is the international reference classification of productive activities. It aims at providing the practical activity categories.Since the publication of the original version of ISIC in1948, most countries around the world have used ISIC directly as their own national classification or have regarded ISIC as the model to design their own national classifications. ISIC provides the guidelines for many countries to develop their own national classification, so it becomes the important tool for statistical comparison of economic activities at international level. ISIC has been widely used in economic fields. And for these years, it’s more and more important in non-statistical fields. For ISIC Rev.4, it took several years for classification experts from all over the world to revise the latest version. It is finally published in2008. Comparing with the earlier versions, it’s more detailed and reasonable. The analysis of ISIC helps us to absorb the international experiences, and to improve the level of Classification of National Economy Industry of China. It also provides the convenience to international comparison. This is the primary purpose of the paper.There are five chapters of this paper. It includes the summarization of the ISIC, the developments of every version, the advantages of the latest one. It also includes the introduction and analysis of the derived classifications and related classifications of ISIC. These classifications are the model of designing national classification which refers to ISIC. Finally, compare the ISIC with our classification and provide some enlightenment.The first chapter introduction includes the background and current situation, the innovation and the disadvantage. It provides the condition and preparation of this paper and makes a brief introduction. It makes comparisons between ISIC Rev.4and earlier versions. At industrial level, it makes contrast of ISIC, NACE, NAICS and Statistical Standard of Industrial Classification of China.The second chapter the overview of ISIC, introduce the production and development of ISIC, the principles and applications of ISIC, the derived and related classifications of ISIC. This chapter is the basis of the subsequent ones. It represents the essence of ISIC.The third chapter the update of ISIC Rev.4, discusses the advantage and improvement of ISIC Rev.4from the view of regulations and structures. In the other side, considering there is lacking domestic researches about comparison of ISIC, NACE and NAICS at industrial level, it’s an innovation to try to do the research at this aspect.The forth chapter is the comparison between Statistical Standard of Industrial Classification of China and ISIC Rev.4. The purpose of research is to applying it in our life. After all the work before, it’s necessary to compare Statistical Standard of Industrial Classification of China with ISIC. Then use the experiences in the design of our classification.The fifth chapter is the enlightenment of ISIC Rev.4to Chinese classification. There are enlightenments both in structures and industrial classifications. It indicates the shortage of Chinese classification and gives the advice to improve.