EurOccupations

Title: Developing a detailed 8-country occupations database for comparative socio-economic research in the European Union
Duration: April 2006 - March 2009
Funded by: European Commission - 6th Framework Programme - FP6-028987
Partners:

• Erasmus University Rotterdam, Department of Sociology
• Arbeid Opleidingen Consult, Tilburg
• Catholic University of Leuven, Hoger Instituut voor de Arbeid
• University of Warwick, Warwick Institute for Employment Research
• University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies
• University of Economics Poznan, Katedra Pracy i Polityki Społecznej
• Foundation centre for European initiatives and research in the Mediterranean (Fundació Centre d'Iniciatives i Recerques Europees a la Mediterrània), Barcelona
• WageIndicator Foundation, Amsterdam
• Centre d'études et de recherches sur les qualifications, Marseille
• ArbeitsWelt - Working World GmbH, Göttingen

Project management: Erasmus University Rotterdam, Department of Sociology - Kea Tijdens

EurOccupations aims to build a publicly available database with the 1,500-2,000 most frequent occupations in the 7 largest EU countries to be used in multi-country data-collection, be it large-scale surveys or case-studies. The database can be used in self-administered questionnaires by means of search tools or for recoding text-based reporting of occupations by means of recoding programs. For all occupations the database includes ISCO- and NOC-occupation codes, occupational titles and educational requirements, and for 150 benchmark occupations. It holds information about job content, required skill level, and competencies. The information is gathered via existing databases and via experts from interest organisations and social scientists.

The EurOccupations team has summarized the job content of 150 occupations in 8 countries, designed a web survey for a short questionnaire, and invited experts with knowledge about one or more occupations to complete the survey. Additionally, several national and international meetings are being organised, in which experts discuss the occupational structure in a specific cluster of occupations. Experts are invited to complete the survey at www.euroccupations.org