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WEDNESDAY 20 JULY 792.15 Socio-economic variables in cross-naonal surveys: Quality enhancement inmeasurement, documentaon and data disseminaon ITo be held on July 20, 2011 from: 11:00 to 12:30, in room 318.Coordinated by:• Jürgen H.P. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik - GESIS - Leibniz Instute for the Social Sciences, Germany• Uwe Warner - Centre d’Etudes de Populaons, de Pauvreté et de Poliques Socio-Economiques (CEPS /INSTEAD), Luxembourg• Hilde Orten - Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD), Norway2.15.1 How to Measure Respondent’s Labour Status and Labour Market Situaon in Cross-Naonal ComparaveSurveysJ. Hoffmeyer-Zlotnik 2 , U. Warner 11 Centre d’Etudes de Populaons, de Pauvreté et de Poliques Socio-Economiques (CEPS / INSTEAD), Luxembourg;2 GESIS - Leibniz Instute for the Social Sciences, GermanyThe social background variable ”occupaon” is based on the implicit assumpon that the posion of a personin the social structure of a modern society is primarily determined by the employment pursued. Educaonand income are closely ed to the occupaon variable. However, the reason given for the importance ofprofessional acvity and posion is that they are considered important determinants of lifestyle, atudes,and individual and group behavioursIn order to assess occupaonal presge and socioeconomic status, a range of informaon must be gathered.It is not enough to determine whether a person is in employment or not, even when employment is measuredin terms of an acvity that characterises that person.2.15.2 Measuring Employment in the Labour Force Survey – the Case of Marginal EmploymentT. Koerner 11 Federal Stascal Office Germany, GermanyFor the measurement of the employment status in cross-naonal surveys, the Labour Force Concept of theInternaonal Labour Organizaon is the key conceptual basis. It defines employment in an extensive way, i.e.any producve acvity of at least one hour per week has to be covered. The experiences with the LabourForce Survey (LFS) in the European Union have shown that measuring employment according to this conceptis challenging in several respects. One crical aspect is marginal employment. Marginal jobs are difficult tocapture in survey interviews, e.g. because respondents are guided by everyday life’s concepts of employmentand therefore tend to focus on their main social status. For instance side-jobs of pupils and pensioners areeasily overlooked in the interview...2.15.3 The life-phase as a socio-economic variable in cross-naonal surveys: Should we use a nominal oran ordinal scale?K. Komp 11 Prence Instute, University of Lethbridge, CanadaLife-phases are longer-lasng situaons that are characterized by constant acvity paerns. Those life-phasesare commonly used in life-course studies to split the me between birth and death into disnct segments. Theiradvantage is that they allow researchers to gain a quick and concise impression of the situaon an individualis in. It therefore seems worthwhile to further develop variables that can capture life-phases.