Occupational and spatial mobility o th Scots born population of South East England

Allan Findlay and David McCollum, University of Dundee

(Project no. 30048)

The request is part of a wider study of Scottish migration to and from the South East of England, but the request for help from the LS relates specifically to the Scots-born population recorded in the 1981, 1991 and 2001 Censuses living and remaining within England. The LS contribution is to help establish 'the unequal geographies of occupational mobility that exist in the UK' (quote from the funding proposal sent to the ESRC) by contrasting this group with others. Other aspects of the research not relating to the LS will include a questionnaire survey at four locations in South East England and also interviews with recent return migrants to Scotland.

The LS will provide comparative evidence about the occupational mobility of the Scots-born population of the South East of England. Occupational mobility for this group will be measured using the standard Social Classes based on Occupations. (Hopefully the LS can advise whether it is possible to use the new NSSeC categories retrospectively or whether it is necessary to base the study on the original social class categories to capture 1981, 1991 and 2001).

For analytic purposes four phases of investigation are envisaged. The first phase simply establishes the social class of the Scots-born population of the South East at different points in time (this is not a longitudinal analysis). The second stage requires examination of upward occupational mobility for the target population (again advice is needed as to what level of occupational disaggregation (if any - on account of cell size issues) is possible below the main social classes. A third phase would want to generate tables that allowed cross-tabulation of variables associated with occupational mobility. The final phase would wish to establish whether similar associations exist for groups other than Scots-born in the South East (thus comparative analysis with Scots-born living in the rest of England, English-born living in the South East, English-born living in the rest of England, English-born living in the rest of England in 1981 and 1991, but residing in the South East in 2001).