1. Class Schemas and Employment Relations Comparisons between the ESeC and the EGP class schemas using European data
By Erik Bihagen, Magnus Nermo, & Robert Erikson
Swedish Institute for Social Research, SOFI,
Stockholm University
Bled June, 2006

2. The purpose of this paper
To compare the ESeC schema with the EGP schema.
To what extent are respondents allocated to equivalent classes with the two class schemas?
Compare empirical outcomes related to employment relationships: (1) requirements of specific human capital (SHC) (2) monitoring problems (MP) (3) age gradients in wage

3. Theoretical assumptions (for employees)
Both class schemas aims at grouping occupations with similarities in:
requirements of specific human capital (SHC)
levels of monitoring problems (MP)
Employees are offered long-term benefits by the employer in:
Occupations with high requirements of SHC in order to keep replacements costs low.
Occupations characterized by a high level of MP as a way to keep work incentives high.
Types of employment relationships;
Service relationship; high SHC + high MP
Labour contract; low SHC + low MP
Mixed contract; (low SHC + high MP) or (high SHC + low MP)

4. Data: The European Social Survey (ESS)
ESS round 2 (edition 2)
22 European countries
Sample size for employees age with valid ISCO codes
Class is based on 3 digit ISCO and additional information on supervisory tasks
ESeC is coded using ESeC version 4.0
EGP is coded using a widely used algorithm (based on ISCO-88) developed by Ganzeboom & Treiman (1996 in Social Science Research)
Relevant measures of employment relations

5. Table 1. Seven classes of employees in EGP and ESeC
Employment relationships 1
Higher salariat occupations I
Higher grade Professional etc.
Service relationship 2
Lower salariat occupations II
Lower grade Professional etc. 3
Intermediate occupations
IIIa
Higher grade routine non-manual
Mixed Contract 6
Lower supervisory and lower technician occupations V
Lower technical, and manual supervisory 7
Lower services, sales and clerical occupations
IIIb
Lower grade routine non-manual
Labour contract 8
Lower technical occupations VI
Skilled manual 9
Routine occupations
VII
Non-skilled manual
Note: IIIb is here characterized by a labour contract in accordance with Goldthorpe (2000).

6. Figure 2. The relative class distributions for Europe (for the 22 countries included in the ESS data) 25 20 15 10 5

7. Table 2 Cross-tabulation between EGP and ESeC
Table 2 Cross-tabulation between EGP and ESeC. All 22 countries included in the ESS data. (percent)
EGP
ESeC I II
IIIa V
IIIb VI
VII
1 high serv 58 9
2 low serv 37 67 16
3 mixed-clerical 8 61 11
6 mixed-supervis 5 15
100 2 14
7 labour-service 17 65 7
8 labour-lo tech 86 6
9 labour-routine 23 74

8. Two dimensions of employment relations in ESS
Specific human capital
If somebody with the right education and qualifications replaced you in your job, how long would it take for them to learn to do the job reasonably well?
Monitoring problems index
… how much the management at your work allows you to decide how your own daily work is organised?
About the work organization… My work is closely supervised

9. Figure 1. Expected location of ESeC classes according to theoretical assumptions regarding specific human capital and monitoring problems.

10. Figure 3. Location of ESeC and EGP classes according to estimated levels of specific human capital and ‘monitoring problems’ (based on estimates from OLS regressions for a person in the age of 40) for all countries in ESS 1
EGP V
ESeC1
0,5
EGP I
ESeC2
EGP II
ESeC6
EGP VI
ESeC3
ESeC8
EGP IIIa
ESeC7
EGP IIIb
-0,5
EGP VII
ESeC9 -1 -1
-0,5
0,5 1

11. Figure 3. Location of ESeC and EGP classes according to estimated levels of specific human capital and ‘monitoring problems’ (based on estimates from OLS regressions for a person in the age of 40) for all countries in ESS 1
EGP V
ESeC1
0,5
EGP I
ESeC2
EGP II
ESeC6
EGP VI
ESeC3
ESeC8
EGP IIIa
ESeC7
EGP IIIb
-0,5
EGP VII
ESeC9 -1 -1
-0,5
0,5 1

12. Figure 4. Location of ESeC and EGP classes according to SHC and MP for Central Europe (Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands) 1
EGP V
ESeC1
0,5
EGP I
ESeC2
EGP II
ESeC6
EGP VI
ESeC3
ESeC8
EGP IIIa
ESeC7
EGP IIIb
-0,5
EGP VII
ESeC9 -1 -1
-0,5
0,5

13. Figure 5. Location of ESeC and EGP classes according to estimated levels of SHC and MP for Northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden)
ESeC2
EGP II
ESeC6
EGP VI
ESeC3
ESeC8
EGP IIIa
ESeC7
EGP IIIb
EGP VII

14. Figure 6. Location of ESeC and EGP classes according to estimated levels of SHC and MP for Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ukraine)
ESeC2
EGP II
ESeC6
EGP VI
ESeC3
ESeC8
EGP IIIa
ESeC7
EGP IIIb
EGP VII

15. Figure 7. Location of ESeC and EGP classes according to estimated levels of SHC and MP for United Kingdom and Ireland
ESeC2
EGP II
ESeC6
EGP VI
ESeC3
ESeC8
EGP IIIa
ESeC7
EGP IIIb
EGP VII

16. Figure 8. Location of ESeC and EGP classes according to estimated levels of SHC and MP for Southern Europe (Spain, Greece, Portugal)
ESeC2
EGP II
ESeC6
EGP VI
ESeC3
ESeC8
EGP IIIa
ESeC7
EGP IIIb
EGP VII

17. The proportion in ESeC 6 and the explanatory power of the ESeC class schema with six different ways of using information on supervisory status

18. The location of ESeC 6 depending on the number of subordinates (All 22 Countries)

19. Figure 9. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, Central Europe (Belgium, Switzerland, Germany (ref cat), Luxembourg, Netherlands)

20. Figure 9. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, Central Europe (Belgium, Switzerland, Germany (ref cat), Luxembourg, Netherlands)

21. Figure 10. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, Northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden (ref cat))

22. Figure 10. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, Northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden (ref cat))

23. Figure 11. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, Eastern Europe (Estonia, Poland (ref cat), Slovakia, Ukraine)

24. Figure 11. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, Eastern Europe (Estonia, Poland (ref cat), Slovakia, Ukraine)

25. Figure 12. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, United Kingdom and Ireland (ref cat)

26. Figure 12. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, United Kingdom and Ireland (ref cat)

27. Figure 13. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, Southern Europe (only Spain)

28. Figure 13. Estimated age gradients in hourly wages, Southern Europe (only Spain)

29. Main Findings Striking similarities between EGP and ESeC;
a vast majority allocated in the same basic contracts
similarly associated with dimensions of employment relations
have a similar relation to ‘wage dynamics’.
But;
EGP V is troublesome in the EGP schema. ESeC 6 is more in line with our expectations throughout most of our analyses.
The most advantaged class, the higher salariat, in ESeC is smaller, and more distinct when it comes to empirical outcomes.
The explained variation of SHC, MP and wage are somewhat stronger when class is measured by ESeC than EGP.