Social Classification: The Making of the NS-SEC David Rose Institute for Social and Economic Research University of Essex .

Social Classification: The Making of the NS-SEC

David RoseDavid RoseInstitute for Social and Economic ResearchUniversity of Essexhttp://iserwww.essex.ac.uk/home/rosed

OverviewOverview

(1) Conceptual basis of NS-SEC

(2) Criterion validation of NS-SEC

(3) Constructing the NS-SEC using SOC2000

The NS-SECThe NS-SEC

1 Higher managerial and professional occupations

(1.1 Large employers and higher managerial)

(1.2 Higher professional)

2 Lower managerialand professional occupations

3 Intermediate occupations

4 Small employers and own account workers

5 Lower supervisory andtechnical occupations

6 Semi-routine occupations

7 Routine occupations

8 Never worked and long-term unemployed

Categories of the Operational Version of the NS-SEC

L1 Employers in Large Establishments L10 Lower Supervisory Occupations L2 Higher Managerial Occupations L11 Lower Technical Occupations L3 Higher Professional Occupations L11.1 Lower technical craft occupations L3.1 ‘Traditional’ employees L11.2 Lower technical process operative occupations L3.2 ‘New’ employees L12 Semi-routine Occupations L3.3 ‘Traditional’ self-employed L12.1 Semi-routine sales occupations L3.4 ‘New’ self-employed L12.2 Semi-routine service occupations L4 Lower Professional and Higher Technical

Occupations L12.3 Semi-routine technical occupations

L12.4 Semi-routine operative occupations L4.1 ‘Traditional’ employees L12.5 Semi-routine agricultural occupations L4.2 ‘New’ employees L12.6 Semi-routine clerical occupations L4.3 ‘Traditional’ self-employed L12.7 Semi-routine childcare occupations L4.4 ‘New’ self-employed L13 Routine Occupations L5 Lower Managerial Occupations L13.1 Routine sales and service occupations L6 Higher Supervisory Occupations L13.2 Routine production occupations L7 Intermediate Occupations L13.3 Routine technical occupations L7.1 Intermediate clerical & administrative occupations L13.4 Routine operative occupations L7.2 Intermediate service occupations L13.5 Routine agricultural occupations L7.3 Intermediate technical & auxiliary occupations L14 Never Worked and Long-term Unemployed L7.4 Intermediate engineering occupations L14.1 Never worked L8 Employers in Small Establishments L14.2 Long-term unemployed L8.1 Employers in small establishments in industry,

commerce, services, etc. L15 L16

Full-time Students Occupations not stated or inadequately described

L8.2 Employers in small establishments in agriculture L17 Not classifiable for other reasons L9 Own Account Workers L9.1 Own account workers (non-professional) L9.2 Own account workers in agriculture

Collapsing the NS-SEC (1)Collapsing the NS-SEC (1)Operational categories Eight (Nine) Class Five Class Three Class

L1 Employers in large establishments

L2 Higher managerial occupations

1.1 Large employers and higher managerial occupations

1.2 Higher professional occupations

1 Managerial and professional occupations

1 Managerial and professional occupations

L3 Higher professional occupations

L4 Lower professional and higher technical

occupations L5 Lower managerial

occupations

L6 Higher supervisory occupations

2 Lower managerial and professional occupations

L7 Intermediate occupations

3 Intermediate occupations

L8 Employers in small establishments

L9 Own account workers

4 Small employers and own account workers

2 Intermediate occupations 2 Intermediate

occupations

Analytic variables

3 Small employers and own account workers

Collapsing the NS-SEC (2)Collapsing the NS-SEC (2)Operational categories Eight (Nine) Class Five Class Three Class

L10 Lower supervisory occupations

L11 Lower technical occupations

5 Lower supervisory and technical occupations 3 Routine and manual

occupations

L12 Semi-routine occupations

6 Semi routine occupations

L13 Routine occupations 7 Routine occupations

L14 Never worked and long-term unemployed

8 Never worked and long-term unemployed

Never worked and long-term unemployed

Analytic variables

4 Lower supervisory and technical occupations

Never worked and long-term unemployed

5 Semi-routine and routine occupations

Conceptual basis for the NS-SECConceptual basis for the NS-SEC(Goldthorpe)(Goldthorpe)

• Employment relations and conditions are central to delineating the structure of socio-economic positions in modern societies

The Derivation of the NS-SECThe Derivation of the NS-SEC

Basic SEC Positions

EMPLOYERS SELF-EMPLOYEDWORKERS

EMPLOYEES EXCLUDED

Typical elements of the Labour Typical elements of the Labour ContractContract

• Short-term exchange of money for effort

• Payment by the time or piece

• No occupational pension or health scheme

• Contract easily terminated

• Low level of job security

Typical elements of the Service Typical elements of the Service RelationshipRelationship

• Long-term exchange of service for compensation

• Greater job security and employability

• Salary

• Incremental or similar payment systems

• Occupational pension and health schemes

• Greater control over the job and thus trust between employer and employee

The Derivation of the NS-SECThe Derivation of the NS-SEC

Basic SEC PositionsBasic SEC Positions

EMPLOYERSEMPLOYERS SELF-EMPLOYEDSELF-EMPLOYEDWORKERSWORKERS

EMPLOYEESEMPLOYEES EXCLUDEDEXCLUDED

LabourLabour

Form of Form of employment employment regulationregulation

ServiceService IntermediateIntermediate

Supervisors, Supervisors, lower technical lower technical semi-routine, semi-routine, routineroutine

IntermediateIntermediateProfessionals Professionals managersmanagers

LargeLarge SmallSmall Never Never workedworked

Long-term Long-term UnemployedUnemployed

Self-employedSelf-employed

(1.1) (1.2,2,4) (1.1) (1.2,2,4) (4) (4) (1.1,1.2,2) (1.1,1.2,2) (3) (3) (5,6,7) (5,6,7) (8) (8) (8)(8)

Validation studiesValidation studies

(a) CRITERION VALIDATION

Do measures of employment relations discriminate between the categories of the NS-SEC?

(b) CONSTRUCT VALIDATION

How well does the NS-SEC explain variance in theoretically relevant dependent variables?

Criterion validationCriterion validation

1 form of remuneration

2 career opportunities

3 autonomy with regard to time

MEASURES OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSMEASURES OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS

Three conceptually separable respects in which employment relations are differentiated according to whether a service relationship or labour contract prevails

Summary (1)Summary (1)

• NS-SEC is first a conceptual construction (hence NS-SEC is a schema)

• To operationalise the schema we need an algorithm to a detailed set of occupation-by-employment status units

Summary (2)Summary (2)

(a) how closely the basic occupational and employment status classifications available map onto the categories of the NS-SEC (i.e. adequacy

of the derivation matrix)

(b) how much information is available relevant to the construction of the algorithm linking these classifications to the schema (i.e. issues of

criterion validity)

How well the NS-SEC schema is operationalised depends upon two things:

Constructing the Derivation Matrix (1)

Information required on:

1. occupation: coded to SOC2000 OUG;

2. employment status;

3. number of persons in the establishment (0, 1-24, 25+).

The NS-SEC Derivation Matrix

SOC2000 Standard Occupational Classification 2000 Occupational Unit Group Title

se25p_1 sel25_2 seno_3 man25p_4 manl25_5 sup_6 emp_7

1111 Senior officials in national government 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

1112 Directors and chief executives of major organisations 1 1 1 2 2 2 2

1113 Senior officials in local government 9.1 9.1 9.1 2 2 2 2

1114 Senior officials of special interest organisations 1 8.1 9.1 2 5 5 5

1121 Production, works and maintenance managers 1 8.1 9.1 2 5 5 5

1122 Managers in construction 1 8.1 9.1 5 5 5 5

1123 Managers in mining and energy 1 8.1 9.1 2 5 5 5

Constructing the Derivation Matrix (2)

1. The derived employment status variable (say, empstat) is created by combining data on whether an individual is an employer, manager, self-employed or an employee; size of establishment; and supervisory status.

2. The full set of categories and associated values of empstat is thus:

Employer with 25 or more employees;Employer with less than 25 employees;Self-employed with no employees (own account worker); Manager in an establishment with 25 or more employees;Manager in an establishment with less than 25 employees;Supervisor;Employee

Constructing the Derivation Matrix (3)

1. Managers may only be allocated to occupations in SOC Major Group 1 (Managers and Senior Officials). This negates the need to ask for self-reported managerial status.

2. Respondent only needs to be asked whether s/he has formal supervisory duties or is an employee. This information should either not be collected or be ignored for managers.

Constructing the Derivation Matrix (4)

The derivation routine for the employment status variable varies with SOC major group. If the OUG is in major group 1 then data are needed on

1. whether self-employed or employee and

2. size of establishment. The size of establishment data can be collapsed prior to or during the derivation.

If the OUG code is in major groups 2-9 then data are needed on

1. self-employed or employee2. size of establishment and 3. supervisory status

Derivation of empstat for managers (SOC Major Group 1)

First level Self-employed Employee Second level

25+

employees

<25

employees

No

employees

25+

employees

<25

employees Result

Emp 25+

Emp <25

S/emp none

Manager 25+

Manager

<25 Empstat Value

1

2

3

4

5

Derivation of empstat for SOC Major Groups 2-9

First level Self-employed Employee Second level

25+

employees

<25

employees

No

employees

N/A

Third level

N/A

N/A

N/A

Supervisor

Yes

Supervisor

No Result

Emp 25+

Emp <25

S/emp none

Supervisor

Employee

Empstat Value

1

2

3

6

7

Allocation to NS-SEC Derivation Matrix

Existing Derived Seven variables added from matrix Derived

SOC OUG

Empstat Se25p Sel25 Seno Man25p Manl25 Super Emp NS-SEC

11xx 1 1 8.1 9.1 2 2 2 2 1

11yy 5 1 8.1 9.1 5 5 5 5 5

92zz 3 1 8.1 9.1 12.6 12.6 10 12.6 9.1

92nn 7 1 8.1 9.1 12.6 12.6 10 12.6 12.6

Note: in row 2, column 5, this OUG has been allocated to 5 for lower managerial occupations, despite an establishment size of 25+. We noted earlier that the size variable could be over-ridden for some managerial occupations. Similarly, the supervisor and employee codes are overridden for managers in rows 1 and 2. A manager is a manager is a manager…

Constructing the Derivation Matrix (5)

1. The rows of the NS-SEC derivation matrix are the OUGs of SOC2000 and the columns are the employment status derived variable.

2. The structure of the matrix reflects the distinction made in SOC2000 between managers and other employees. Managers are coded to major group 1 only.

3. Accordingly in the matrix the managerial cells are only valid for SOC codes 1111 to 1239.

4. As a corollary, for these managerial OUGs the cells for other employees (including supervisors) are invalid.

5. For SOC major groups 2 to 9, it is the managerial cells that are invalid, as managers in these occupations should be coded to major group 1.

Example illustration of parts of the NS-SEC derivation matrix

Empstat

SOC OUG

S/emp 25+

S/emp <25

S/emp None

Manager 25+

Manager <25

Super- Visor

Employee

11xx 1 - - 2 - - -

12yy 1 8.1 9.1 - 5 - -

3xxx 3.1 3.1 3.1 - - 3.1 3.1

3yyy 4.1 4.1 4.1 - - 4.1 4.1

5xxx 1 8.1 9.1 - - 10 11.1

Constructing the Derivation Matrix (6)

Empstat

SOC OUG

S/emp 25+

S/emp <25

S/emp None

Manager 25+

Manager <25

Super- Visor

Employee

11xx 1 1 1 2 2 2 2

12yy 1 8.1 9.1 5 5 5 5

3xxx 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1

3yyy 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.1

5xxx 1 8.1 9.1 11.1 11.1 10 11.1

In practice, ONS does not leave empty cells in the matrix. Instead, they use editing rules to force codes into empty cells. Thus:

Reduced & Simplified versions of Reduced & Simplified versions of NS-SECNS-SEC

Reduced NS-SEC - if no information on establishment size

Simplified NS-SEC - if data only onoccupation

NS-SEC Household ClassNS-SEC Household Class

EITHER Highest Income Householder

OR ‘Dominant’ position in labour market

Advantages of the NS-SECAdvantages of the NS-SEC

• Conceptually clear and rigorous

• Simple to create

• Flexible in use

• Easier to maintain

• Better explanatory tool