Although there have been many changes since 1911, the labels first used just over a century ago to describe branches of work in the UK have tended to stick – except that the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification places Managers and directors first, before the demoted second occupational class, which is labelled Professional. The chart above shows how that Professional occupations group has become the largest single occupational class in the intervening century, constituting 19% of all jobs by 2011. Only a tiny proportion, perhaps less than a tenth of that number, could have labelled themselves as Professional in 1911. The bar chart below shows how much ‘professionalisation’ there has been since just 2011. More and more jobs have come to gain this label over time.

The proportion of jobs labelled as Professional has continued to increase, by a further 0.5% in total in just the three years from 2011 to 2014. Managers and directors, Associate Professionals and those in Caring, Leisure and other services have increased their share of the pie by just 0.2% and all other occupations by less, or they have fallen in proportion. These are very fast shifts in the space of very few years, and suggest a continual ‘grade inflation’ as more jobs are given fancier and fancier titles each year compared to those jobs that have, in effect, had their job labels downgraded by not being given a more ‘fancy’ title. It is not that so many jobs are all becoming more skilled. There will be more ‘servants’ working nowadays compared to a few years ago, but they may now be called ‘professional educator and child hygienist’ rather than ‘nanny’. Similarly, someone in charge of a few other people may today be called a manager, whereas in the past you had to manage more people to be titled a manager.