NRS data uncovers a rise in Britain's middle class

A recent article in the Guardian analysed Ipsos Connect data for the NRS and found a trend for growth in our middle class since the turn of the millennium.

Social grade has been used for the National Readership Survey (NRS) since the 1960s providing valuable insight into British occupational trends. It’s a system based on occupation that enables an entire household to be classified according to the Chief Income Earner. Its simplicity and application as a discriminator has proved particularly useful for profiling media audiences and behaviour. 

A recent article in the Guardian analysed data from the NRS and found a trend for growth in our middle class since the turn of the millennium. Interestingly, since the 1970s there has been a major reduction in manual and lower-paid work. 

Data Sources: Ipsos Connect / NRS

Neil Farrer, the Head of Media Measurement for Ipsos Connect, commented:

“These long term trends collected via a high quality research survey provide real insight into how the make-up of the country has developed over the past fifty years. Since we started collecting social grade, manufacturing in Great Britain has decreased significantly whilst there has been real growth in service related jobs ultimately leading to a burgeoning middle class. ” 

The NRS has been a valuable data source for profile measurement of social grade for many years now. Ipsos Connect will continue to collect Social Grade using the same high quality survey methodology when the NRS transforms into a new research service called AMP (Audience Measurement for Publishers) in 2017.

If you would like the data in Excel format, please email Neil Farrer.

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