The current study employs HISCO (Historical International Standard Classification of Occupation) as a method to process 1897 census aggregated data and an approach to reconstruct the employment structure in the Russian Empire. The 1897 census aggregated data reflect both general trends for the whole Russian Empire, for instance a big share of agricultural workers even in regions inappropriate for agriculture - the Sakhalin Island (35.6%) and employment factors in Siberia. The latter are geographical, climatic and ethnographical ones. The article groups rural regions of Siberia on the basis of the main occupations (farming, livestock breeding, fishing, hunting, etc.) and states interdependence between the prevailing industries and the location of ethnic groups. The reconstruction of the employment structure in Siberia with the help of HISCO made it feasible not only to form the occupational group structure, but to show some peculiar features of the social composition in Siberia.