Occupationally disaggregated manpower statistics are invaluable for economic analysis and manpower planning, but administrative occupational groupings are often inappropriate for these uses. Administrative occupational groupings are unreliably defined by subjective assessment of similarity of job types. Observations of mobility between 161 condensed KOS (Key Occupations for Statistical Purposes) from the 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, and 1983 Labour Force Surveys input into an Intramax regionalisation procedure produce occupational groups defined by internal mobility relations. This is a repeatable and more reliable method for the definition of occupational groupings. The twenty-eight groupings produced by the procedure reveal some interesting and in some cases disturbing features of the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and Department of Employment occupational groupings. The procedure could reasonably form the basis of a better administrative classification system incorporating the effects of structural changes in labour demand. Just like travel to work areas, functional occupations could be updated after each census.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BarrasRBroadbentT ACordey-HayesMMasseyD BRobinsonKWillisJ, 1971, “An operational urban development model for Cheshire”Environment and Planning3115–234
2.
BostonG, 1980, “Classification of occupations”Population Trendsnumber 20, Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (HMSO, London) pp 9–11
3.
CairnesJ E, 1974Some Leading Principles of Political Economy Newly Expounded (Harper and Row, New York)
4.
Census, 1915, “Classified and alphabetical list of occupations and rules adopted for classification”volume X, Appendix of the Census of England and Wales for 1911, part I (HMSO, London) pp v–vii
5.
DE, 1972aClassification of Occupations and Directory of Occupational Titles. Volume 1: Intoduction, Structure and IndexDepartment of Employment (HMSO, London)
6.
DE, 1972bClassification of Occupations and Directory of Occupational Titles. Volume 2: Definitions of Administrative, Technical, Clerical and Service OccupationsDepartment of Employment (HMSO, London)
7.
DE, 1972cClassification of Occupations and Directory of Occupational Titles. Volume 3: Definitions of Production OccupationsDepartment of Employment (HMSO, London)
8.
DE, 1978, “Trends in earnings, 1948–77”Employment Gazettevolume 86, May issue, Department of Employment (HMSO, London) pp 520–530
9.
DixonJ SOpenshawS, 1979, “Fortran subroutines for the functional regionalisation of large sparse interaction matrices” DP24, Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne
10.
FienbergS E, 1970, “An iterative procedure for estimation in contingency tables”Annals of Mathematical Statistics41907–917
11.
ForesM, 1974, “Job evaluation and incomes policy”Lloyds Bank Reviewnumber 114 (October) pp 38–48
12.
GannettH, 1894, “The classification of occupations for census purposes”Journal of the American Statistical Association4 (March-June) pp 25–26
13.
GleaveD JPalmerD, 1979, “The relationship between geographical and occupational mobility in the context of regional economic growth”, in Regional Demographic Development Eds HobcraftJReesPCroom Helm, Beckenham, Kent) pp 180–210
14.
GoldthorpeJ HHopeK, 1974The Social Grading of Occupations (Clarendon Press, Oxford)
15.
HakimC, 1982Secondary Analysis in Social Research: A Guide to Data Sources and Methods with Examples (George Allen and Unwin, Hemel Hempstead, Herts)
16.
HirstM A, 1977, “Hierarchical aggregation procedures for interaction data: A comment”Environment and Planning A999–103
17.
LiveseyF, 1971, “Occupational mobility and worker performance”British Journal of Industrial Relations9234–250
18.
MasserIBrownP J B, 1975, “Hierarchical aggregation procedures for interaction data”Environment and Planning A7509–523
19.
MasserIScheurwaterJ, 1978, “The specification of multi-level systems for spatial analysis”, in Spatial Representation and Spatial Interaction Eds MasserIBrownPMartinus Nijhoff, Leiden) pp 151–172
20.
MayhewKRosewellB, 1981, “Occupational mobility in Britain”Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics43225–254
21.
NEDO, 1984, “Building skills for tomorrow's jobs”National Economic Development Office, 21 Millbank, London SW1
22.
OECD, 1965Wages and Labour MobilityOrganization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, Paris)
23.
OPCS, 1977, “Labour force survey”Population Trendsnumber 7, Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (HMSO, London) pp 15–17
24.
OPCS, 1980, “Labour force sample survey, 1973, 1975 and 1977” Series LFS, number 1, Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (HMSO, London)
25.
OPCS, 1981, “Classification of occupations 1980, and coding index”Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (HMSO, London)
26.
OPCS, 1982a, “Labour force sample survey, 1979” Series LFS, number 2, Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (HMSO, London)
27.
OPCS, 1982b, “Labour force survey, 1981” Series LFS, number 3, Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (HMSO, London)
28.
ScovilleJ, 1965, “The development and relevance of United States occupational data”Industrial and Labor Relations Review19 (October) pp 70–79
29.
Sex Discrimination Act, 1975Public General Acts—Elizabeth II chapter 65 (HMSO, London)
30.
SmithJ H, 1966, “The analysis of labour mobility”, in Manpower Policy and Employment Trends Eds RobertsB CSmithJ HGraham Bell, London) pp 89–97
ThatcherA R, 1979, “Labour supply and employment trends”, in NIESR Economic Policy Papers, number 2. De-industrialisation Ed. BlackabyFHeinemann Educational Books, London) pp 26–55
33.
TyreeA, 1973, “Mobility ratios and association in mobility tables”Population Studies number 27, Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (HMSO, London) pp 577–588
34.
WardJ H, 1963, “Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function”Journal of the American Statistical Association58236–244
35.
WilliamsS, 1986, Shirley Williams Interview on Micro Live, BBC 2, 7 March (British Broadcasting Corporation, London)
