This year’s census will produce a different picture of British society. For the first time in nearly 90 years, the government has changed the way it classifies people according to occupation. In the seven class system more emphasis has been placed on employment contract than on traditional divides like manual/non manual or skilled/unskilled. The new scheme will put a self employed plumber in a higher class than a call centre worker - even if they’re a university graduate.
Professor David Rose of Essex University who drew up the scheme says it is a better indicator of "life chances" than the old model. The risk of an early death is far higher for those in class 7 for example than class 1. And the results are likely to show that -relatively speaking
we are not all middle class now. A third of the people in the top two classes – a third in the bottom two - the rest spread between the remaining four AND those who have "never worked". An hour glass rather than middle class spread.
With the help of Essex University we have drawn up a "check your class" page.
