related documents” was replaced with several questions on reading comprehension including “How often does your job involve reading letters, memos, or e-mails?”

- <u>Different rating scale. O*NET uses two rating scales for each skill: the importance scale,</u> ranging from 1 “Not important” to 5 “Extremely important,” and the level scale, ranging from 1 “Basic” to 7 “Sophisticated.”  The importance scale is subjective, relying on a respondent’s experience or understanding of the job. The level scale attempts to measure complexity by including anchors or examples, though these are not divided into equal intervals (for example, there is a tendency to have extreme examples for the highest levels of sophistication), do not measure a single concept/skill, require a high level of abstraction (since the examples are not always applicable to the occupation), and are not exclusive. The SDS, instead, uses a rating scale that captures the frequency with which the skill is applied. This provides more clarity to the respondent about how to rank the skill. The SDS also asks about multiple skill levels (for example, simple reading and advanced reading) rather than asking about the level of a skill. This allows for the inclusion of more specific examples. For example, the example provided for basic reading is “reading letters, memos, or e-mails” while the example provided for advanced reading is “ <mark>reading books, professional journals, or scholarly publications.”</mark>

**Module III.** Module III adapts the Education and Training questionnaire of the O*NET Worker Requirement module. The module asks respondents about the qualifications needed to perform the job, including the level of education, related work experience, on-the-job training, and job-related professional certifications.

The SDS modifies the Education and Training questionnaire in several ways. The SDS uses the Vietnam’s education classification taxonomy, asks for field of studies required for the job, shortens the length scales used for work experience and training, and removes the question about apprenticeships given their infrequent use in Vietnam.

**Module IV.** Module IV collects demographic information on respondents, including age, gender, education, experience, and type of employer.

_Targeted occupations_

**The SDS survey selected occupations that are in-demand and/or relevant for the growth of strategic sectors of Vietnam’s economy.** While in the long run it would be ideal to survey all occupations in Vietnam, given resource constraints the SDS pilot focused on 30 occupations. . The 30 selected occupations represent 31 percent of 2018 employment.  . Occupations selected for the SDS had to meet several selection criteria.

- <u>Minimum sample. Occupations had to have a minimum sample of 20 respondents in the latest</u> rounds of the Labor Force Survey (March and September 2021) in Vietnam’s major employment centers (Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Vinh Phuc, and Dong Nai).

- <u>Exclusion of residual occupations. Occupations could not be “residual occupations,” that is,</u> an occupation with “not elsewhere classified” in its title.<sup>10</sup> These occupations tend to have vague descriptions.

> 10 This is all 4-digit occupations ending in 9.

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