1990 POPULATION CENSUS Detailed data based on a 2 per cent representative sample (1992)

I. REVIEW OF THE DATA - A/ Main characteristics of the population

In respect of the proportion of the economically active persons with third-level education females were in a disadvantageous situation. This was indicated still by the data of the 1970 population census, too, when the proportion of females with a higher educational did not attain even two thirds of that of males (it was 3.8 per cent as against 6.1 per cent of the males). By 1980, this difference decreased and by 1990 ceased completely and the share of females with higher education was even slightly higher than the respective proportion of males. In the group of those with completed secondary school education the proportion of females was greater than that of males in the last two decades; on the other hand, in the case of those having completed a secondary vocational or specialized school an opposite situation could be observed. The reason is that in the training of skilled workers the proportion of girls could not be increased substantially. The growth in the proportion of the economically active persons with higher education exerted a positive effect, first of all, on the educational level of non-manual workers. Namely, in 1970 only one fifth, in 1990 already one third of the non-manual workers had third-level education. Among the economically active persons of non-manual occupation, the share of those with completed secondary-school increased, too. By 1990, the latter alone already constituted a majority (52 per cent). The joint proportion of those with a secondary school-leaving certificate and, respectively, a diploma represents more than five sixths (84 per cent) of the non-manual stratum. It must be stressed that at the same time the educational attainments of the manual workers, alsó increased. By 1990, already nearly one third of the economically active persons of manual occupation had acquired qualifications in secondary vocational schools, specialized schools, and a non-negligible part (13 per cent) in secondary schools. Among the skilled workers the former and the latter represent a majority (52 per cent) and, respectively, one fifth. Industrial classification of active earners An important characteristic of the structural transformation of the economy is the shift between the material and non-material major divisions to the benefit of the latter. In the 1970s, the proportion of the economically active persons in the material major divisions decreased by 4, in the 1980s by 6 percentage points. This huge transformation is related mainly to the processes having taken place, first of all, in mining and manufacturing as well as in agriculture and forestry. In mining and manufacturing, falling out had started already in the 1970s, and then accelerated in the 1980s. Between 1980 and 1990, the number of those working in this major division of the national economy feli by 340 000 persons, nearly by 20 per cent. The decline could be observed primarily in certain sectors of the heavy industry but concerned partly the light industry, too. In the 1970s, there was still an increase in construction which, after 1980, due to the restriction of the state home-building and investments, was alsó followed by a decreasing tendency. The fali in the number of persons with basic employment in the agriculture and forestry may be considered practically as a long-term trend. This stopped only at the end of the 1970s and in the beginning of the 1980s when the mass outflow from agriculture to other major divisions — mainly to mining and manufacturing, and construction — stopped practically, and temporarily even an inflow and reflow took place. The facts that in the above period the former differences in income between the agricultural and non-agricultural fields of work equalized and that restratification within the division came to the főre as a result of the significance of the auxiliary production lines having increased for a certain time, played a role in this change. But from 1984 on the earlier tendency continued and even strengthened. The new change meant, on the one hand, a return to the processes occurring necessarily in a longer term in connection with the technical-economical development, and, on the other hand, reflected the worsening economic position of a significant proportion of the big farms. In 1990, the joint number