European Socio-economic Classification (ESeC)

The European Socio-economic Classification was developed from the EGP scheme. The categories group occupations along their position in the labour market and the type of labour regulation. There is a total of 10 categories, in addition there is a concept to group them into 6, 5 or 3 categories (cf. Harrison/Rose 2006).

Origin/Creator:	ESeC Consortium
Method/Structure:	The ESeC distinguishes between employers (i.e., large employers have more than 10 employees), self-employed, employees and persons outside the labour market. In a next step, ESeC differentiates between three forms of labour regulation: Service relationship, employment contract and a mixture of both. Unemployed persons are assigned to a category based on their last employment, unless they are long-term unemployed (i.e., be unemployed for more than 6 months), then they belong to category 10. The ESeC model covering only 6 classes, combines classes 1 and 2 3 and 6 as well as 4 and 5. In the 5-class model an additional summary of the classes 8 and 9 is made. The 3-class model combines the classes 1 and 2, furthermore the classes 3, 4, 5 and 6 as well as classes 7, 8 and 9. Class 10 can be used additionally in all kind of models.
Development/implementation for Germany:	Hausen et al. (2006) carried out the validation for Germany with the help of the BIBB/IAB survey "Acquisition and Application of Occupational Qualifications 1998/99".

Related classifications:

International Standard Classification of Occupations 1988 (ISCO-88)

Keywords

socio-economic classification, labour market position, labour regulation

European Socio-economic Classification (ESeC)

Fundamental literature: Rose, David, Harrison, Eric (2007): The European socio-economic classification: a new social class schema for comparative European research. European Societies, 9(3), 459-490.

Hausen, Cornelia, Jungblut, Jean-Marie, Müller, Walter, Pollak, Reinhard, Wirth, Heike (2006): Validation of ESeC: The Effect of Coding Procedures and Occupational Aggregation Level. Deutsche ESeCValidierungsstudie. https://finchley.essex.ac.uk/files/esec/events/conferences/2006/2006-01-19/papers/Validation_german_paper_lisboa.doc, Stand: 26.07.2022