Is prototype ESeC relevant a classification to depict employment relations in France ?

Insee is very favourable to the emergence of a European socio-economic classification and to its introduction into the core variables for data sources on EU households. The European Socioeconomic Classification (ESeC) project, financed by the European Commission, proposes that the choice be made in favour of a classification largely based on a description of the world of work, without taking into account other explanatory factors of "social positions" (economic, cultural, social capital, etc.). This project gave the occasion, for a consortium of European researchers and statisticians, to propose studies on the pertinence of ESeC.This working paper is arranged in three parts. Written by Cécile Brousse, the first part shows the usefulness of automatic classification techniques to test prototype ESeC and produce alternative classifications. In the field of wage earners, it highlights classifications of occupations combined supervisory status that are more coherent with the conceptual basis of employment relations. It also displays classifications covering other aspects of socio-economic positions (working conditions, education, wages...). In the second part, Loup Wolff reveals that there was a trend towards a more heterogeneous composition of supervisors as a category since the 80's. His research indicates that the inclusion of supervisory functions as proposed for the prototype ESeC might not be stable over time. Finally, Olivier Monso provides an estimation of social career mobility assessed through prototype ESeC and through national classification. His comparison seems to show that prototype ESeC generates more inter-class mobility than the national classification.