European Socio-Economic Classification: A Validation Exercise Figen Deviren Office for National Statistics

Introduction The UK context Creating E-SeC Validation Using the Labour Force Survey Results Conclusions

The UK context 8 classes5 classes3 classes 1 Higher managerial and professional occupations 1.1 Large employers and higher managerial occupations 1 Managerial and professional occupations 1.2 Higher professional occupations 2 Lower managerial and professional occupations 3 Intermediate occupations2 Intermediate occupations 4 Small employers and own account workers 3 Small employers and own account workers 5 Lower supervisory and technical occupations 4 Lower supervisory and technical occupations3 Routine and manual occupations 6 Semi-routine occupations5 Semi-routine and routine occupations 7 Routine occupations 8 Never worked and long- term unemployed Never worked and long-term unemployed

Deriving NS-SeC Questions asked about occupation SOC 2000 Questions about Employment status Questions on Size of organisation NS-SeC Deriving NS-SeC Questions asked about occupation SOC 2000 Questions about Employment status Questions on Size of organisation NS-SeC SupervisorSelf-employed

Deriving E-SeC SOC 2000 ISCO-88 Employment status Supervisory responsibilities Working alone E-SeC Deriving E-SeC SOC 2000 ISCO-88 Employment status Supervisory responsibilities Working alone E-SeC Size of organisation

Validation For our purposes validation meant Will E-SeC provide a representative picture of the UK that is comparable to the one provided using the NS-SeC? Does E-SeC have a similar predictive power to that of NS-SeC?

Choice of survey The Labour Force Survey –Sample size, 72,500 of working age (men aged , women aged ) –Recent quarterly data – Autumn 2005 –Available at both individual and household levels –Relevant questions

Comparison of E-SeC and UK NS-SeC (reduced categories) Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005

Case comparability Agree at 7 categories Agree at 3 categories No agreement Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005

A Comparison of E-SEC and NS-SEC for males Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005 Lower sales, service and technical

A Comparison of E-SEC and NS-SEC for females Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005

European Socio-Economic Classification by sex Source: Labour Force Survey Autumn 2005

Lower managers, professionals, higher supervisory and technicians: E-SeC and NS-SeC by age and sex. Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005

Routine occupations: E-SeC and NS-SeC by age and sex Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005

Comparison of E-SeC and NS-SeC at household level Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005

European Socio-Economic Classification by sex of household reference person Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005

Predictive power NS-SeC is accepted as a predictor of ill-health Linear regression – binary outcome yes/no Choice of variables Significance of classifications

Chronic morbidity for males (individual level) Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005

Chronic morbidity for females (individual level) Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005

Predictive power – Individual level -using NS-SeC as an independent variable BS.E.Exp(B) sex Age25_ Age35_ Age45_ Age55_ ethn quals degree nsec_h nsec_h nsec_h nsec_h nsec_h nsec_h Constant Chronic morbidity - using E-SeC as an independent variable BS.E.Exp(B) sex Age25_ Age35_ Age45_ Age55_ ethn quals degree esec_h esec_h esec_h esec_h esec_h esec_h Constant Results of the regression analysis containing age, ethnicity and educational attainment

Predictive power – Household level Chronic morbidity - using E-SeC as an independent variable BS.E.Exp(B) sex Age25_ Age35_ Age45_ Age55_ ethn quals degree esec_h esec_h esec_h esec_h esec_h esec_h Constant using NS-SeC as an independent variable BS.E.Exp(B) sex Age25_ Age35_ Age45_ Age55_ ethn quals degree nsec_h nsec_h nsec_h nsec_h nsec_h nsec_h Constant

Conclusions The picture of the UK using E-SeC is broadly similar to that obtained when using NS-SeC Differences observed between the two classifications for lower managers/professionals and routine occupations by age and sex E-SeC is comparable to NS-SeC when used as a predictor of chronic morbidity. More validation needed?