A History of the Ministry of Information, 1939-46
In considering the factors affecting recruitment to any occupation it is of importance to know what factors in general influence young people when they are thinking about a career. The circumstances of the subject’s family, the wishes of parents, the advice of other people, and the education that has been received, will obviously play an important part. These influences however form too wide a field to be investigated thoroughly in a short survey designed to throw light on recruitment to a particular occupation.
In these inquiries only those groups in the population whose members might have been expected to receive the sort of education that would qualify them for entry to the clerical or executive classes of the Civil Service have been considered. The influence of parents on individuals has not been studied directly, but a general investigation of the attitudes of parents of children in these groups towards careers for their sons and daughters was made.
The main subject studied under the heading of “Choosing a Career” was the attitudes of young people themselves towards different aspects of earning a living and working conditions. Thus an attempt was made to assess the amount of importance attached to particular factors, pay, working hours, holidays, security, the interest of the work, the prospects of promotion and what was called the “social side of the job” which included relationships with other workers and organised social activities. The importance attached to these factors by parents was also studied.
The question asked was, “In making up your mind about a career (or, in the case of parents, “In thinking about a career for your children”) which of these considerations would you think very important, fairly important and not so important”. A list of the factors mentioned above was then read out to informants and the interviewer explained where necessary what was meant by them. Pay, working hours and holidays are self-explanatory. The “interest of the work” meant the interest of the job to be done and not matters of incidental interest such as working with other people, which would be included in “the social side of the job”. “Security” meant having a permanent job without risk of being dismissed, and “prospects” meant the possibility of getting on whether by promotion or on one’s own initiative if working independently.
The informant then knew what he was expected to do and what were the factors that he had to grade in these three categories before making his decision about each of them.
The answers given by the main groups sampled are shown below. Details of the composition of these groups are given elsewhere, but it may be said here that the workers interviewed were aged under thirty, the schoolchildren were boys and girls in the School Certificate and post-School Certificate forms of secondary schools, and the parents the parents of such children. *
Table 1 shows only the percentages of the different groups that graded each factor as “very important”, as in this way a broad comparison of the importance attached to different factors may be made most easily. In subsequent tables and comments each factor is dealt with separately, comparison being made between the answers given about each by the different groups, and here the percentages answering “fairly important” and “not so important” are also shown.
Table 1
Percentage grading each_factor as “Very Important”
| T & P | CL.M | CL.F | Sch.B | Sch.G | Fth | Mth | |
| * | % | % | % | % | % | % | % |
| Pay | 44 | 62 | 50 | 32 | 27 | 44 | 41 |
| Working Hours | 37 | 44 | 54 | 26 | 42 | 31 | 35 |
| Holidays | 31 | 37 | 44 | 19 | 28 | 34 | 35 |
| Interest of Work | 96 | 89 | 94 | 96 | 97 | 97 | 97 |
| Prospects & Promotion | 85 | 91 | 72 | 76 | 68 | 81 | 82 |
| Security | 50 | 67 | 57 | 63 | 65 | 64 | 71 |
| Social Side of Job | 32 | 28 | 39 | 31 | 51 | 39 | 47 |
| Sample | 333 | 243 | 312 | 543 | 428 | 322 | 396 |
T & P - Technical & Professional Workers
CL.M. - Male Clerical Workers
CL.P - Female Clerical Workers
Sch.B - Schoolboys
Sch.G - Schoolgirls
Fth - Fathers
Mth - Mothers
It will be seen that the consideration thought to be “very important” by the highest proportion is the interest of the work. After this come prospects and promotion, and third, with a considerably lower but still substantial proportions grading it as “very important”, comes security.
The importance attached to these three factors, and particularly to the first two, suggests that people in the groups studied, both young people with higher than average and yet not necessarily very high standard of education, and their parents, regard a career as something more than a means of earning a living. Both generations have had experience of war, and the elder generation of trade depression and it might be expected that security would be valued very highly as a result of this; and yet more important even than security is the idea that work should be interesting and provide opportunities for getting on.
It should be noted that the question asks what considerations people would think important in choosing a career, and the answers to this question do not necessarily reveal which factors would influence their actions most when they were actually in the position of making a choice between two or more jobs in particular economic and other circumstances. However it is clear that people in these groups wish to have a positive and constructive attitude towards work, and that imagination is concerned more with interest and prospects than with the more immediate considerations of high pay and short working hours.
Pay, hours and holidays are considered “very important” by relatively low proportions, and the same is true of the “social side of the job”.
In the next section of this report opinions about the Civil Service in relation to all the factors studied are given. The results of this general question about choosing a career do however suggest the lines which recruiting publicity directed towards these sections of the population could most advantageously follow.
In the tables below the different factors considered are dealt with separately.
Table 2
Importance of Interest of Work
All groups consider the interest of the work as being of great importance. A slightly lower proportion of male clerical workers than of other groups graded this as very important. The difference is statistically significant though small. The proportions grading interest as “not so important” are very low indeed. It will be noted that the same amount of importance is attached to interest by the parents as by the schoolchildren.
Table 3
Importance of Prospects & Promotion
There are some differences in the way in which the different groups graded prospects and promotion. The schoolchildren and the women clerical workers attached less importance to these than did other groups. More of the boys than of the girls graded prospects as very important, and considerably more of the male than of the female clerical workers did so. It might be expected that boys and men would consider this factor more in choosing a career, as probably the majority of the girls and women would expect to get married and become housewives and mothers. The long-term view of a career is therefore likely to be less important to them. It is shown later (Table 10) that parents consider prospects rather more important for boys than for girls.
The technical and professional workers (82% of these were men) and the parents of both sexes show relatively high proportions grading prospects as very important. Only small proportions in any group answered “not so important”.
It is worth noting that in all the groups except male clerical workers the proportion answering “very important” about prospects and promotion is lower than the proportion giving this answer about the interest of the work.
Table 4
Importance of Security
A third of the technical and professional workers graded security as fairly important only, and a further 16% as not so important. The proportion, 50%, of this group considering it very important is definitely lower than the corresponding proportions in other groups. It is possible that security is of less importance to these workers than to others because many of them are highly trained in specialised jobs and therefore less likely to suffer from competition that are others. Or it may be that the type of person who goes in for this sort of work values security less being more interested in the other aspects of a career.
Female clerical workers also attach rather less importance to security, and this may be because they expect to marry and therefore a secure job is of less importance to them. There is however no difference in the proportions of schoolboys and schoolgirls answering in different ways.
Fathers do not appear to value security more than their sons and daughters, but the proportion of mothers grading it as very important is rather higher.
Security is considered less important than interest and prospects by all groups.
Table 5
Importance of Pay
Clerical workers, particularly men, attach more importance to pay than do other groups. It should be remembered that all the workers interviewed are aged under thirty and young clerical workers do not in general receive high salaries compared with workers of the same age in technical and professional occupations. It is to be expected that the men would consider pay more than the women as some of them would be responsible for maintaining wives and families. In fact 32% of the male clerical workers interviewed were married, which may be compared with 19% of the technical and professional workers.
Lower proportions of the schoolchildren than of the workers and the parents considered pay to be very important. The children of course had not had any experience of earning a living, though their schoolwork would have provided them with some basis of experience on which to form an opinion about some of the other factors studied such as the “interest of the work” and the “social side of the job”. When the rather low value attached to pay by children is considered it is of particular interest to note that they attached no less importance than did other groups to security. The difference between the proportions of boys and girls giving different answers about pay is not statistically significant.
Mothers and fathers graded pay about equally, the same degree of importance being given to it by them as by the technical and professional workers. They considered it more important than the schoolchildren but less important than the clerical workers.
Table 6
Importance of Working Hours
More of the women clerical workers than of other groups graded working hours as very important. The schoolgirls and the men clerical workers also show fairly high proportions giving this answer. Technical and professional workers possibly think this factor less important because their work is in general more interesting than clerical work. It is of interest to note the marked difference in the proportions of schoolboys and schoolgirls giving different replies. The boys show a markedly low proportion grading hours as very important.
Table 7
Importance of Holidays
Holidays, like working hours, are considered to be more important by clerical workers than by other groups, and again the women have a somewhat higher proportion than the men saying “very important”. They are considered less important by the schoolchildren than by others, the boys showing a very low proportion grading them as very important and as many as a quarter grading them as not so important. This may be a reflection of the fact that schoolchildren are accustomed to having very much longer holidays than workers and are answering the question more with reference to the conditions they experience as schoolchildren than to those they will one day experience as workers.
Table 8
Importance of Social Side of Job
There is a marked difference between the sexes in the amount of importance attached to the social relationships connected with a job and other social activities. Schoolgirls, mothers and women clerical workers consider this factor to be more important than do schoolboys, fathers and men clerical workers.
Some Further Analyses
Some further analyses were made of the replies given to these questions by parents and schoolchildren.
Parents were divided into three economic groups, those in which or the chief earner in the family, had a salary or basic wage rate up to £5.10s. a week, from £5.10s. to £10, and over £10. These groups are called the lower, middle and higher economic groups in the table below.
There are some differences between the economic groups in respect of the replies given about pay, prospects and promotion, and security. In respect of the other factors studied there are no significant differences.
Table 9 (Parents)
Importance of:
(7 parents were not classified by economic group)
It will be seen that less importance is attached to all three factors by parents in the higher than by parents in the lower groups. It is perhaps to be expected that pay and security would be valued more by those with small than by those with larger incomes, and it is interesting to note that prospects and promotion are also valued more by those with lower incomes.
In connection with these differences it is worthwhile noting that children at foundation schools, where the fees are generally higher than at council schools, attached rather less importance to security than did those of council schools, 66% of those at council schools graded security as very important compared with 56% of those at foundation schools (standard error of difference = 3.7%). There are however no significant differences in the replies given by children at the two types of school about prospects and promotion and pay.
Information was obtained about the education of the parents interviewed and they were divided into two groups, those who had had only elementary education and those who had had some higher education. It was found that considerably more of the parents with only elementary education than of those with higher education graded security as very important, 75% compared with 58%. Those with elementary education also attached rather more value to pay: 49% of these grading pay as very important compared with 34% of those with higher education. As regards the other factors studied there were no significant differences between the proportions of the two education groups giving different replies.
The sample of parents was selected by means of taking a random sample of the names of school children in the forms concerned from the school registers, noting the address, and visiting the parents of the children so selected, mothers and fathers being interviewed alternately. * Thus some of the parents had sons at secondary schools and others had daughters. There was of course a proportion having more than one child at a secondary school, and the other children might have been sons or daughters. In fact 24% of the parents selected had more than one child at a secondary school, and 76% had only one, that one being the child selected from the register. It was thought worthwhile to make an analysis of the replies given by the parents according to the sex of the selected child, as although most of the questions asked were of a general nature it might be expected that parents would answer them partly in reference to their views about their own children. It might thus be expected that the attitudes shown by the parents of sons would be different in some respects from those shown by the parents of daughters, and in fact there are differences of this nature. These differences are more marked than the differences found between the attitudes of fathers and mothers which were few and not very great.
Table 10
Importance of:
Pay and prospects and promotion were considered to be of more importance when the selected child was a son, and working hours, holidays, and the social side of the job when the child was a daughter.
It will be remembered in connection with this that more of the boys then of the girls in the sample of schoolchildren graded prospects and promotion as very important, and that considerably more of the girls than of the boys graded working hours, holidays, and the social side of the job as very important. In this, therefore, the parents and the children agree.
There are no differences between the ways in which the parents of sons and of daughters graded the interest of the work and security, and similarly there were no differences between the ways in which the girls and boys graded these factors.
No significant differences were revealed by an analysis of the replies given by parents aged under and over fifty.
There are differences between the proportions of children in the School Certificate and the post-School Certificate forms making different replies about three of the factors.
Table 11
Importance of:
It should be noted that the ratio of boys to girls at the two levels was about the same.
Those in the higher forms attach rather more importance to security. The difference is small but statistically significant. Children in the School Certificate forms, on the other hand, attach more importance to pay and the prospects and promotion than do those in the higher forms.
With regard to the other factors studied, the interest of the work, working hours, holidays and the social side of the job, there are no differences between the replies given by children at the two levels.
An analysis was made of the answers given by schoolchildren at schools in different regions of the country. The numbers interviewed in each region are not sufficient for very many conclusions to be drawn, but it is clear that children in Scotland attach rather more importance to pay than do those elsewhere, 42% of them grading this as very important compared with 30% of the whole sample. A lower proportion of the children in Scottish schools than of those elsewhere graded the social side of the job as very important, 27% compared with 40% of the whole sample.
46% of the children interviewed in London schools thought working hours were very important as compared with 33% of the whole sample.
The other regions do not show any peculiarities.
In addition to the questions already discussed parents were asked whether there was anything else that they considered particularly important in thinking about careers for their children. This question was not very productive of replies, which suggests that all the major considerations were covered by the previous questions. It may be noted however that 8% of the parents pointed out that in deciding whether a career was suitable the temperament and abilities of the child should be taken into account, and 3% said that the locality of the job, and where the child would have to live, were important.
The Careers Chosen
The schoolchildren were asked, “What job or career would you most like to go in for when you leave school?” and “What do you actually expect to go into?”. For comparison the sample of parents was asked “What career do you think your son or daughter will take up?”. The child referred to in this question was the child whose name had been selected from the school register in order to find the sample of parents, and it should be noted here that these were not the same children as were selected for interviewing in the sample of school children. It was thought better to interview the parents of different children so that their views would not be influenced before the interview by special discussion with the child who would have been interviewed at school previously.
The possible replies to this question were classified in advance on the basis of replies received to a similar question from a sample of schoolchildren in an inquiry made in May 1944 for the Ministry of Education, * with some differences. The Civil Service was classified separately, the Home Service being distinguished from the Foreign and Colonial Services. It was found in the survey made for the Ministry of Education that a proportion of children said they would like to travel or get jobs overseas without specifying what sort of work they wanted to do. If this reply was made in this inquiry, the children were asked to specify the job, and the answer was classified under the appropriate heading. A category “Travelling and Overseas Work” was however left in for the sake of those who were unable to specify the job.
The classification used is shown in the table below. “Other professions” includes medicine, nursing, research in various branches of science, accountancy, law, architecture and surveying, art, music, journalism, and others. “Business” includes those going into their father’s businesses, if not as clerks, and those answering shopkeeping, farming, manufacturing, commercial travellers, and similar occupations.
Table 12
Careers Preferred and Expected
See Appendix 1, page 36,
It will be seen that 8% of the children interviewed wished to go into the Home Civil Service, and a further small proportion wanted to go into the Colonial or Foreign Services. Most of those who wanted to go into the Service expected that they would do so. The proportion of parents expecting their children to become Civil Servants is about the same as the proportion of children expecting to do so.
It is of some interest to compare these proportions with the proportions choosing other occupations. A considerably higher proportion chose teaching than chose the Civil Service, and about the same proportion chose the Civil Service as chose engineering. Amongst the “other professions” preferred scientific research is by far the most popular, accounting for some 10% of all the answers given. Chemistry is the science mentioned most frequently. Next in frequency to scientific research comes medicine, mentioned by 4% of the whole sample. Nursing is chosen by 3%, and architecture or surveying, accountancy, and journalism or writing, each by about 2%.
70% of the children expected to go in for the occupations which they said they preferred. 85% of those preferring teaching expected to go in for it, and 78% of those choosing “other professions” thought they would go in for them. Of the 105 children choosing the Civil Service (Home or Foreign or Colonial) 80, or 76% expected to take up this work. It will be noted that the proportion answering “Don’t know” to the second question, “What do you expect to go in for?” is higher than the proportion not having a preference. According to general reports sent in by interviewers at the end of the inquiry, one of the factors swelling the proportion who did not know what to expect was compulsory military service. Boys did not know how this would affect their careers, and parents were doubtful as to how it would affect their sons’ careers.
The proportions of parents expecting their children to take up various careers compare very closely with the corresponding figures for the children. This is evidence that the replies made to this question were realistic.
As might be expected there are in some cases marked differences in the proportions of boys and of girls mentioning different careers. In the table below the preferences of boys and girls are compared on the left, and on the right the expectations of boys are compared with the expectations of the parents of boys and those of girls with those of the parents of girls.
Table 13
Careers Preferred and Expected
About the same proportion of boys as of girls wish and expect to go in for the Home Civil Service. A higher proportion of boys than of girls mention the Foreign or Colonial Service.
Many more girls than boys prefer teaching and expect to teach, more of the boys choosing engineering and other professions. Clerical work is mentioned by a higher proportion of girls than of boys.
It will be noted that the expectations of boys and boys’ parents and of girls and girls’ parents compare fairly with one another. The proportion of boys expecting to go into the Foreign or Colonial Service is somewhat higher than the proportion of boys’ parents expecting their sons to do so. This may be due to the fact that the parents of boys at boarding school were not included in the sample. The difference is however of doubtful statistical significance.
An analysis made of the answers given by children at different types of school showed that about the same proportion at both council and foundation schools wished and expected to enter the Home Civil Service. A slightly higher proportion of those at foundation schools mentioned the Foreign or Colonial Services. It is perhaps of interest to note that 27% of the children at council schools chose teaching as compared with only 15% of those at foundation schools.
The proportions of children wishing and expecting to enter the Civil Service in the School Certificate and post-School Certificate forms are about the same. It might be expected that most of those in the post-School Certificate forms would aim at the executive class (some of course might be going to universities and would afterwards aim at the administrative class), and that some of those in the school Certificate form, those expecting to stay on at school after taking School Certificate, would do so. The School Certificate form shows a considerably higher proportion of children wishing to take up clerical work, but not in the Civil Service. 8% in this form chose clerical work (not C.S.) as compared with only 1% of those in the higher forms. It appears from this that the secondary schools are likely to provide more recruits aiming at the executive than at the clerical class, and that the majority of the children who want to take up clerical work do not think of entering the Civil Service.
As might be expected a higher proportion of the children in the post-School Certificate forms thought they would become teachers. Rather more of those in the School Certificate form expected to take up occupations classified as “business” and engineering.
Analysis of the answers given by parents by economic group showed that more of those in the lower two groups than of those in the higher group expected their children to take up teaching, the reverse being true of “other professions”. Clerical work was also mentioned more frequently by parents in the lower economic groups. As regards the Civil Service there is no statistically significant difference between the groups. 9% of those in the lower, 7% of those in the middle, and 5% of those in the higher group mentioned the Home Civil Service. These figures suggest that there may be a small difference, but the sample is not large enough for this conclusion to be drawn with any certainty.
Conclusions. Section II
(1) The majority, 70%, of children in the School Certificate and post-School Certificate forms of secondary schools expect to be able to take up the careers of their choice. Only 8% expect to take up different career, and 22% were uncertain as to what they would do. Moreover the ideas of parents of such children as to what careers their sons and daughters will take up correspond closely with the expectations of the children.
This suggests that those factors which are considered to be important in choosing a career by the school children and by their parents are likely to have considerable influence on the decisions that are made. In fact, for these groups, the occupation that is taken up is likely to be determined by opinions and preferences as well as by chance and economic circumstances.
In persuading young people with higher education to take up a particular career it would therefore be essential to take into account their opinions as to what makes a career satisfactory or otherwise.
(2) The factors to which most importance is attached by these schoolchildren and their parents, and by young workers in technical and professional or clerical occupations, are the interest of the work itself and the opportunities that there are for getting on. Somewhat less importance is attached to security.
Information about salaries, working hours and holidays, however attractive these might be, would not by itself be sufficient to make a career popular. It would be necessary to show that the work is interesting and that there are good prospects.
It should however be noted that working hours and holidays are considered more by girls than by boys, and that publicity designed to attract girls to a career could advantageously stress any social activities that were connected with the work. The provision of organised social activities might be expected to make a career more attractive to girls.
(3) The careers chosen by the highest proportions of schoolchildren in these forms are teaching and other professions, and amongst these scientific research and engineering are the most popular. These then are the careers which are considered by most to provide opportunities for doing interesting work and for getting on. It might be worthwhile to study what particular aspects of these jobs appeal to young people and why it is that they are considered to be particularly interesting. If the Civil Service can offer similar sorts of attraction these could with advantag be stressed in a recruiting campaign.