Detailed 1951 occupational statistics for counties and large towns

Table ID:

OCC_1951_LG_T     (1252034)

Contents:

Detailed 1951 occupational statistics for counties and large towns

Approx. number of rows:

93,390

Table type:

Raw Data

Documentation Author:

Humphrey Southall

Geography:

Reporting units are identified by:
   Administrative County
   Local Government District Type
   Local Government Unit

Chronology:

The data are for the single year 1951.

Sources:

1. These data were taken from Table 20, 'Selected Occupations with Status Aggregates', for 'England and Wales, Regions of England, Wales, Conurbations, A.Cs., C.Bs., Met.Bs., Urban Areas with Populations of 50,000 or more', pp. 152-345 in Census 1951 England and Wales: Occupation Tables (London: HMSO, 1956). The national totals for England and Wales combined were added by Harold Price in Portsmouth in March 2017.

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Notes:

1. This is a large and complex table, broadly resembling the equivalent 1931 table. Unfortunately, while the 1931 table lists numbers in all the most detailed categories, in 1951 these were covered only selectively, limiting both potential analyses and error checking.
2. This table covers all counties in England and Wales and includes overall county totals. The data for Cheshire and Lancashire were entered by Andy Bendall at Portsmouth in November 2000. The remaining data for the north of England were entered by Paula Aucott at Portsmouth in spring 2001 and the rest of the country was entered by Rachel Granville in Winter 2001.
3. For the vast majority of units covered, the table includes 372 rows of information, each row listing numbers in the category for men and for women separately. However, these rows derive selectively and inconsistently from a more complex occupational coding scheme. In broad terms, the table starts with fourteen rows of occupational status data; these can be identified by the values of lev_1, lev_2 and lev_3 all being null. The remainder of the table contains, broadly, data for three levels in the occupational classification.
   • The top level in the hierarchy, indicated in the original report by roman numerals from I to XXVIII and by values of 'lev_1' from 1 to 28 in the transcription, is listed systematically. Total numbers in each top level category can be identified by 'lev_1' having the specified value, and both 'lev_2' and 'lev_3' being null.
   • The second level, indicated in the original report by numbers which restart at 1 with each new top level category, only appears for some top level categories; where it does appear, totals for a given level can be found by selecting rows with the appropriate values of 'lev_1' and 'lev_2', and null values for level 3.
   • The most detailed categories are identified by three-digit numbers, but many of them are either not listed, which makes it impossible to fully check the table, or assembled into ranges, such as '134, 135, 136 Other ferrous foundry workers'. For this reason, 'lev_3' is a character field.
4. Unfortunately, on detailed examination the table includes, occasionally, what is in effect a third intermediate level for which totals are given. For example, top level category 18, 'COMMERCIAL, FINANCE, ETC.' is divided into two level 2 categories: '1. Commercial occupations' and 'Persons employed in finance and insurance'; but the first of these includes rows without a level 3 identifier called 'Owners, etc., of retail businesses' and 'Salesmen, shop assistants'. Each of these rows has total numbers given for it, and each is followed by more detailed categories of shops, and therefore amount to an additional level. In these cases, the values of 'lev_2' include decimal values: '1.1', '1.2', etc.
5. To simplify querying the table, each data row is also identified by 'row_id', which is simply a sequence number running from 1 to 373. Bizarrely, an additional row listing "Blast furnacemen, steel melters, etc" (lev_3=122) appears only for the page covering St. Pancras (London) to Edmonton (Middlesex). This has been given the row_id value of 49, when it appears, which puts it in the correct place in the sequence. However, this means that most units lack a row with ID = 19.
6. The national totals only have a g_unit value in the g_unit column and nothing in the admc_unit column.

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Checking:

1. The population aged 15 and over was checked against the sum of those occupied and "unoccupied and retired".
2. The sum of "Employers", "Managers", "Operatives", "Working on Own Account" and "Out of Work" was checked against the total occupied.
3. The sum of the 28 Level 1 categories was checked against the total aged over 15.
4. Wherever possible, the sum of the components of each Level 1 category was checked against the reported total. Unfortunately, many categories had only some of their components listed, and we could only check that the total of those listed was less than the reported total.

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Indices:

Index	Type	Column(s) indexed
occ_1951_lg_t_pkey	Primary key	lgd_name, lg_type, row_id
occ_1951_lg_t_idx1	Unique	g_unit, row_id
occ_1951_lg_t_idx2		admc_unit, row_id, ac_tot
occ_1951_lg_t_idx3	Unique	adm_cnty, lg_type, lev_1, lev_2, lev_3, row_id, lgd_name

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Constraints:

The table has the following associated constraints:

Constraint	Type	Details
occ_1951_lg_t_pkey	Primary Key	See details above for primary key index

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Columns within table:

Column	Type	Contents
lgd_name	Text string (max.len.=44).	Name of the unit the data relates to in the form it appeared in the original report (lower case, punctuation as in original).
lg_unit	Text string (max.len.=44).	Name of the unit the data relates to, in standardised form (i.e. upper case, no hyphens, etc). This may be a local government district, but the table includes county totals, with and without any County Boroughs listed with the county.
lg_type	Text string (max.len.=8).	Type of district. This is limited to: 'AC' = Administrative County, 'ACB' = Administrative County with associated County Boroughs, 'CB' = County Borough, 'LCC' = London City Corporate (this is specific to the City of London) 'MetB' = Metropolitan Borough (in London), 'MB' = Municipal Borough, 'UD' = Urban District.
adm_cnty	Text string (max.len.=34).	Name of administrative county in which the place is located.
ac_tot	Text string (max.len.=6).	Flag to indicate rows which are totals for Administrative Counties.
row_id	Floating point number.	Numeric field identifying and placing in order the different rows of information for each reporting unit; for example, 'Boiler firemen, stokers' (category 915, order XXV) will always have row_id=360.
lev_1	Floating point number.	Level 1 occupational category, given in roman numerals in the original report. This column is non-null for all rows apart from the initial 'occupational status' data.
lev_2	Floating point number.	Level 2 occupational category. This does not appear for all level 1 categories, while some categories are further sub-divided (see note above).
lev_3	Text string (max.len.=44).	Level 3 (lowest) occupational category. This is usually a three-digit number, but it is sometimes a sequence of such numbers, linked by commas and dashes.
occup	Text string (max.len.=76).	Name of the occupational category. NB this may be the name of a level 1, 2 or 3 category, or an occupational status. In most cases, it is simply whatever text appears next to the row of numbers.
males	Floating point number.	Number of males in category.
females	Floating point number.	Number of females in category.
notes	Long text.	Notes.
rec_num	Integer number.	Sequence number placing rows in correct order, added on loading.
admc_unit	Integer number.	ID number for the Administrative County containing the unit, as defined in the AUO. NB to extract county totals from this table, use the relevant rows rather than grouping by this ID.
g_unit	Integer number.	ID number for the reporting unit, as defined in the AUO.