Class and Unemployment

The purpose of this paper is to theoretically clarify and empirically analyse the link between social class and unemployment. After reviewing and justifying the criteria used to determine the class position of the unemployed, empirical evidence of the associations between class and unemployment rates in ten selected European countries is provided. Data come from the European Union Labour Force Surveys and European Socio-economic Classifications was used. Results of the analysis show that the likelihood of being unemployed depends on class position. The experience of unemployment is distributed across classes according to a clear gradient in which the more advantaged classes have lower unemployment rates than the working classes. This implies that the class profile of the employed and the unemployed is different and that the employed and the unemployed contribute differentially to class composition, with the unemployed contributing more than the employed to the composition of the working classes. The results are robust to different specifications of the observed populations. The class gradient in unemployment rates is visible among women and men and is also present in all ten countries considered.