Usefulness and limitations of ESeC prototype in the French context Workshop on the collection of occupational data Eurostat 28-11-2009 Usefulness and limitations of ESeC prototype in the French context 1

Plan Application to working conditions 1. Is the ESeC prototype relevant for describing French society? Application to working conditions Application to cultural participation Application to occupational mobility 2. How is the prototype ESeC perceived by the general public? How easy is it to classify oneself in the prototype ESeC Do respondents understand the ESeC prototype ? 3. Proposals 2

INTRODUCTION 3

PARTIE 1 Is the ESeC prototype relevant for describing French society ? 4

Application to working conditions 5

Working conditions Classifications « tested » : national classification ISCO - 2008 prototype ESeC (full version)‏ 6

Working conditions The results no classification is better than others messages vary from one classification to another 7

Working conditions Two ESeC classes are quiet heterogenous : ESeC 6 (Higher grade blue collar workers)‏ some workers combine supervision and manual tasks while others are only responsible for supervision ESeC 9 (Routine occupations)‏ Non skilled blue-collar workers and lower-grade white-collar workers are amalgated 8

Application to cultural practices 9

Cultural practices Results Full and simplified ESeC versions yield relatively similar results. The supervision dimension does not seem relevant for analysing cultural participation 10

Application to occupational mobility 11

Changes in prototype ESeC among employees between 1998 and 2003 18 24 Semi- and unskilled workers 9 29 28 Skilled workers 8 21 33 Lower grade white collar workers 7 48 38 Higher grade blue collar workers 6 4 Petit bourgeoisie or independants (domaine agricole)‏ 5 20 Petit bourgeoisie or independants 19 35 Higher grade white collar workers 3 12 22 Lower salariat 2 17 Higher salariat 1 Femmes Hommes Nom Code ESec 12

Occupational mobility Results The ESeC prototype yields results that are fairly consistent with what we know of recent occupational mobility in France The very high mobility of men classified in ESeC 6 (supervisors) is a limitation The instability of this classe at an individual level makes it difficult to analysis long term phenomena (eg. health, property …) 13

PARTIE 2 How is the prototype ESeC perceived by the general public? 14

How easy is it to classify oneself in the prototype ESeC? 15

Do the respondents know how to classify their occupation in ESeC? The self-classification test used both versions  half the sample answered version A (for researchers )  half the sample answered version B (for general public)

Do the respondents know how to classify their occupation in ESeC? 17

Alternative proposals PARTIE 2 Alternative proposals to ESeC prototype 18 18

2) skill specialisation 3) status Proposal 1 : The future European socio-economic classification could be based on three dimensions : 1) skill level 2) skill specialisation 3) status 19

by combining sub-major groups Proposal 2 : The future European socio-economic classification could be built from the second aggregation level of ISCO-08 by combining sub-major groups 20 20

Proposal 3 : Eurostat classification could comprise two aggregated levels, the second level (available in the LFS, SRCV) offering greater flexibility for rearrangements than the first, especially for researchers. For instance, a classification similar to the prototype ESeC could be built from the second level. 21 21

First implication : For skill (level-specialisation) reasons sub major groups could be rearranged (especially SMG 41 to 96) Second implication : The aggregated classification does not include a class entirely composed of supervisors 22 22

An example of classification based on ISCO-08 two-digits and core variables Low-skilled blue-collar workers Low-skilled white-collar workers Skilled blue-collar workers Skilled lower-grade white-collar workers Intermediate occupations Farmers Intellectual and scientific occupations (i.e.management-level workers in public-interest services )‏ Business owners, craft workers and retailers Business executives and managers 2 groups composed of self- employed workers 7 groups composed mainly of employees 23

An example based on ISCO-08 two-digits and core variables 82 83 91 92 93 94 96 51 52 42 91 95 61 62 81 71 72 73 74 75 41 43 44 53 54 03 61 62 63 92 31 32 33 14 34 35 02 11 24 01 21 22 23 25 26 11 12 13 14 24 61 62 51 52 14 71 72 73 74 75 81 83 91 95 11 12 13 24 2 groups composed of self-employed 7 groups composed mainly of employees 24

But this is just an example ! The weight to be assigned to each dimension (skill level, sector, status) should be discussed among NSI and with users and of course the classification should be validated using harmonised data sources 25

Thanks you for your attention