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

Occupational classification of active arners Under the impact of the socio-economic conditions developed in the 1980s, the composition of the economically active population alsó changed significantly by 1990. In the past ten years the number of economically active persons of manual occupation continued to fali more rapidly than earlier, that of the non-manual workers continued to increase — to a much smaller extent than in the 1970s. The number of the former is by 17 per cent lower, that of the latter by 0,5 per cent higher than in 1980. In 1990 two thirds of the economically active population were of manual occupation and one third pursued non-manual actlvities, in 1970 the ratio was three quarters to one. \ While between 1970 and 1990, among the economically active persons of manual occupation the ratio of males and females scarcely changed (62 to 38 per cent as against 64 to 38 per cent), the sex-ratio among non-manual workers changed considerably in 1970, the ratio of the two sexes was near to half to half (48 to 52 per cent), in 1990 the males represented two fifths and the females three fifths of nonmanual workers. 24. Active earners by major types of activity Major type of activity Number (1000 persons) Percentage Major type of activity 1970 1980 1990 1970 1980 1990 Manual workers 3759 3560 2952 75.3 70.2 66.1 Non-manual workers 1230 1508 1516 24.7 29.8 33.9 Totál 4989 . 5069 4467 100.0 100.0 100.0 There was a great change alsó in the age-structure of both manual and of non-manual workers. Due to the great extent of retirement motivated alsó by decreasing possibilities of work among manual workers, during the 20 years the proportion of those aged 55 and over feli nearly by 10 percentage points while the respective decline among non-manual workers was smaller, only by 4 percentage points. From 1970 to 1990, the proportion of the young (14-29 year old) among the manual workers did not change significantly (33 per cent against 30 per cent). The share of young non-manual workers was somewhat over one third in 1970 and feli to one fifth by 1990. It can be established in the case of both major groups of activity, that the proportion of the middle-aged increased significantly: among the manual workers the proportion of those aged 30-54 years grew from 52 per cent in 1970 to 66 per cent in 1990, the respective proportions among non-manual workers were 58 and 75 per cent. The composition of economically active persons of manual occupation by basic staff groups changed to the benefit öf the skilled workers in the past twenty years. The changes in the period under review were called forth by different causes in the 1970s and, respectively, in the 1980s, especially in the second half of the latter. In the 1970s, the number of skilled workers grew practically in conformity with the demands of the technical and economic development and under the impact of efforts made for the mechanization of hard manual labour, respectively (from 1970 to 1980, the number of skilled workers increased by 21 per cent, that of the semi-skilled workers by one tenth), while the group of unskilled workers decreased to the half. In the early 1980s, in consequence of a sudden stop in the economic development, then, in the second half of the decade, due to the decline in domestic output, to the braking of the investments as well as to the sudden decline in the solvent demand on the internál markét and in the surrounding Comecon countries there was a regress among the skilled and semi-skilled workers, too: in 1990, in the Hungárián economy, the number of the skilled workers, semi-skilled workers and of unskilled workers was by 7, 25 and 35 per cent lower than in 1980, respectively. While the number of skilled workers decreased, their proportion among the manual workers continued to grow. 22