An European index of occupations

Name of the presentation Job titles Job title is the usual designation given to a person doing a specific job. There is no univocal correspondence between a job and a job title because several job titles can be given to the same job A job title can have a male and female version For the same job, the job title can –reproduce what is written in the employment contract, –in a job classification, –in a collective bargaining agreement, –job advertisement –common understanding in the workplace. Furthermore job titles can change over time although they describe the same job.

Name of the presentation Job titles index A job titles index is a list of all titles organized in alphabetic order which can be supplemented with the correspondent codes in one or several occupational classifications These indexes were developed primarily for use in classifying a respondent's occupation during surveys but they can also be used for non-statistical purposes (ex: for taxes, social security, employment agencies…) They are comprehensive lists of specific jobs developed over time and should continuously be updated through review of survey responses

Name of the presentation Job titles index in EU Member States

Name of the presentation Job title versus occupation In most of the countries the job titles index constitutes the basic information for the classification according to an occupational classification. In a statistical environment they can be used for coding occupations: –During the interview in the framework of a CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview) or CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interview) survey where either the interviewer codes the job title using a search tree or by typing the job title and using text string matching from an occupational data base –After the interview, by encoders using encoding tools to code the job title declared by the interviewee (this method is more used in the framework of paper assisted personal interviews) –In web surveys where the respondent introduce his/her job title and a system of text string matching allows him/her to navigate in a search tree in order to find the right occupational code. Therefore is essential for the comparability of the occupational data that an equivalent job title is coded in all the Member States in the same way.

Name of the presentation Is a European job title index possible? The results of the project EurOccupations already presented in a previous ISCO Workshop, have shown that job titles are relatively comparable across the EU and, although we can see a big difference in terms of size of the job titles indexes across the EU Member States, these differences are mainly due to the number of synonymous given for the same job title or the existence of male and female versions. Broadly speaking it should be possible to identify a core list of job titles with its synonymous and linguistic versions which could be easily used in all Member States. The World Database of Occupations (WISCO), which has been designed as part of the EU-FP6 (European Framework Program) EurOccupations project, contains 1,594 distinct occupational titles by now translated in 20 languages. Furthermore, this database contains already the ISCO 08 codes assigned to each job title. This work is an excellent starting point to develop a more detailed EU index.

Name of the presentation Advantages of having a EU job title index A higher comparability in the occupational data as we could agree on the coding of each job according to the ISCO classification. Furthermore, comparability could be enhanced across countries but also across surveys or across modes within a survey. Several Member States mentioned that they would like to improve/complete their job title index and the introduction of an EU index of occupations could help them in this task. The time spent in the elaboration of such an index would be a rentable investment as substantial efficiency gains through shared work should be expected, since finally all countries face similar problems. In computer assisted or web surveys, a multi-linguistic data base of job titles could improve the quality of the information of information provided by migrants as they could also have access to their job title in their own mother tongue. The elaboration of a common index of job titles opens the door to the possibility of having common coding tools which could be shared by different countries and different surveys inside the same country. When an international occupational classification is revised, each new code should be assigned to each job title once for all the Member States with important efficiency gains. This would allow also to be able to evaluate with precision the breaks introduced by the new classification as each job title can straightforwardly be presented accordingly the new or the ancient version of the classification.

Name of the presentation How to develop it - The ILO index of occupations -The WISCO database on occupations - The European job mobility portal EURES - The job title indexes from each Member State. Data base containing a commonly agreed list of job titles in all EU languages, a short description of the corresponding job and the matching ISCO code. ESS net project "Data collection for social surveys using multiple modes"

Name of the presentation How to maintain it After the Database is settled it is essential to maintain it. Job titles change, new synonymous can appear, job titles can become obsolete and new can emerge. The work of identification of each case needs to be carried out by the Member States. It was recognized as good practice to identify new job titles collecting them during the surveys when a respondent answers a title not included in the index. Any modification in the EU job title index should to be agreed collectively as a new item in one language should be identified in terms of ISCO codes but also of correspondence with other languages. The changes in the Index can be discussed in the ISCO forum but some kind of mechanism of decision should be found to "officially" include them in the database.

Name of the presentation Discussion 1- Would you be in favor of an EU index of job titles? 2 – Any ideas on the elaboration of the database 3 – Any ideas on the mechanism of maintenance and adoption of the changes.