1. Compiled by Elizabeth Lindner, Miklós Lakatos – HCSO
The ESEC in the light of ISCO-08 compilation, paying particular attention to the transformation of the Hungarian Standard Classification of Occupations
Compiled by Elizabeth Lindner, Miklós Lakatos – HCSO

2. The main issues covered by the paper
1. Experiences gained during the application of the European Socio-economic Class Schema (ESEC) in Hungary
2. Important characteristics of the revision of the occupation classifications (ISCO-88 and HSCO-93) serving as a basis of ESEC
3. The effect of ISCO-08 and HSCO-08 on ESEC

3. ESEC as an improved version of EGP (Erikson-Goldthorpe)
other criteria beyond occupation:
status in employment:
size of an enterprise
self-employed persons and employers
supervisory activity of employees
degree of autonomy over time/ career structure or some elements of ’job ladders’
- labour contract (LC), mixed forms, service relationship (SR),

4. The most important base of ESEC is ISCO
However, the major dimension of ESEC distinction is the differences between the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), and the Standard Classification of Occupations (HSCO) in Hungary.
From the aspect of ESEC, only the status of employment, the size of employers and the number of subordinates were asked as auxiliary information in the 2001 Census, the type of jobs (LC, mixed forms and SR) is not disclosed by the Census, which asked only a few questions on this subject.

5. Hungarian Socio-economic Classification Schema
6 socio-economic classification schemas were prepared based on the 1996 Hungarian Microcensus.
One of them was chosen by a group of experts (the one which is very close to ESEC)
The first application was made on the data of the 2001 Census

6. Characteristics of HSEC applied on 2001 Census
Coverage: Total population
- employed persons
- unemployed persons
- inactive persons (retired, child care beneficiary etc)
Variables used in HSEC implementation
- Occupational unit groups (OUGs) of HSCO
- status in employment
- number of subordinates, employees
- NACE activity of employers

7. Experiences of the Hungarian application
lack of criterion of educational level
Problems of classification
manual – non-manual occupations
managers and professionals
skilled workers – semi skilled workers – unskilled workers
services – production
agriculture – non-agriculture

8. Characteristics of ISCO-08 and HSCO-08 development
breakdown of occupations in information technology, communication and health service
classification of process controllers and supervisors
separation of Major groups 7 and 8
changed functions of Major group 9

9. The effect of ISCO-08 and HSCO-08 on ESEC (Classes 1-3)
- separation of higher and lower grade managerial occupations
- determination of managerial intellectuals 2
- classification of professional, managerial occupations 3
- classification of process controllers

10. The effect of ISCO-08 and HSCO-08 on ESEC (Classes 4-7)
4, 5
- It may happen that no sufficient information (i.e. status in employment, NACE section) is available 6
- Distinction from ESEC 2 and separation from ESEC Groups 7, 8, and 9 are difficult 7
- The classification of some occupations requiring high level expertise is difficult: e. g. shop assistant in a shop selling technical equipment seems as an outlier in the major group (it shall be included in ESEC Class 3).

11. The effect of ISCO-08 and HSCO-08 on ESEC (Classes 8-10)
8, 9
- Classification of operators of complicated equipment proves difficult since they might belong to ESEC Class 3 because of the nature of activities. 10
- It is not sure whether sufficient information or auxiliary information on occupations is available. If sufficient information is provided, these occupations can be classified in ESEC Classes 1-9.

12. We say thank you for their attention!