47economic circumstances, access to material rewards, and living standards.
On the other hand, this indicator also gives us some insight into the
employment and economic structures of each country. In our case, data
on occupations corresponds to the types of activities in which individuals
were involved when interviewed. Activities were classified according to
the first level of the International Standard Classification of Occupations
(ISCO).^7
In Lithuania, most individuals belonging to these cohorts are concen-
trated in four occupational groups: professionals (33.5%), craft and
related workers (22.6%), elementary occupations (14.7%), and service
workers and shop and market sales workers (9.0%). While the cohorts
have very similar occupational profiles, it is noticeable that in the younger
cohort there are fewer individuals involved in industrial work and more
in services.
In the Swiss case, technicians and associate professionals predominate
(24.0%), unquestionably an effect of the strong vocational and training
education programmes that have been in place for decades. Professionals,
who in most cases have full university degrees, are comparably fewer, but
are still the second largest occupational group (14.7%). Service and shop
and market sales workers (14.5%) and plant, machine operators and
assemblers (11.1%) are other large occupational groups. As in Lithuania,
the occupational profile of the cohorts is very similar. In any event, occu-
pational structures in Switzerland are very distinct for migrants and non-
migrants, with the later over-represented in personal services and
industrial occupations.
In Portugal, individuals are generally spread out over a larger number
of occupational groups, and the cohorts have very different occupational
profiles. Six occupational groups account for most individuals: service,
shop, and market sales workers (20.6%); professionals (15.3%); craft and
related trades workers (14.6%); clerks (12.9%); plant and machine oper-
ators and assemblers (11.2%); and elementary occupations in industry
and services (cleaning, etc.) (10.2%). When comparing cohorts, service,
shop, and market sales workers are the largest group amongst the older
cohort, while professional occupations prevail in the younger cohort.
Occupational groups that mostly rely on highly skilled individuals (not
only professionals but also technicians and associate professionals) had
Contextualising Personal Networks Across Birth Cohorts...