Introduction

Abstract

This study enquires into the employment structure of four Western European countries. It starts out from the premise that labour markets constitute a central focal point of modern societies. Hence, involuntary exclusion from the labour market such as unemployment is, by and large, experienced as a period of both economic and social hardship. Likewise, for individuals actively involved in the labour market, employment is not only a source of income, but also defines status and position in social stratification. A job thus conveys a wide range of information about the incumbent’s (probable) educational background, financial standing and social belonging. Consequently, when children ask their school-mates about their parents’ jobs, they intuitively enquire about something close to the social class of their peers’ families. For analogous reasons, in the social sciences, occupational data is considered as a useful shortcut for a series of socioeconomic characteristics of individuals, characteristics commonly subsumed under class differences (Müller, 1997: 759).