Faith Communities and Local Government in Glasgow

3. Religion and Socio-Economic Status

NOTE: There is a very complex association between religious group and socio-economic status. It should be noted here that the following account is descriptive rather than analytic - many of the associations apparent from the tables will be heavily influenced by the different age and gender profiles of the religious groups rather than by 'religion' itself.

Key findings:

Amongst both women and men the Church of Scotland and Catholic communities have almost identical occupational profiles.
Amongst both men and women Hindus, Jewish-persons and 'other Christians' remain more likely to be in 'managerial-professional' occupations; Presbyterians, Catholics, Muslims and Sikhs remain relatively concentrated in 'routine' occupations.
Home ownership is most common in the Jewish, Muslim and Sikh communities. Social renting is most common amongst Catholics, Presbyterians and the no religion group.
Glasgow's Presbyterians and Catholics have virtually the same educational profile, around half of each group having no qualifications. Strikingly, more than half the Hindu group are graduates, which may help to explain their relatively advantaged position in the labour market.

3.1 - Religion and Economic Status

3.1.1 A majority of Christians and of the non-religious are 'economically active' although this is more marked amongst the 'no religion' group, and much less marked amongst Presbyterians and Catholics. To a considerable extent this relates to the age and gender profile of these groups outlined in Section 1. The 'no religion' group is disproportionately 'young' and 'male', whilst Presbyterians, particularly, are 'older' and 'female' - and this will strongly affect economic status. The age effect can be discerned in the proportions 'retired' or 'Permanently sick or disabled'. These are particularly high amongst the 'older' Christian groups and relatively low amongst the 'younger' no-religion group:

Table 3.1(a) Religion and Economic Status

% by column	None	Church of Scotland	Roman Catholic	Other Christian
Economically active	66.4	51.4	52.8	56.6
Working - Part-time	8.9	9.0	9.6	9.5
Working - Full-time	46.4	35.2	34.9	37.7
Unemployed	6.1	4.8	5.5	3.7
Full-time student	4.9	2.4	2.8	5.7
Economically inactive	33.6	48.6	47.2	43.4
Retired	6.1	17.6	13.9	10.7
Student	7.9	4.0	4.3	14.1
Looking after home/family	6.1	6.2	6.8	5.4
Permanently sick/disabled	8.1	14.5	15.0	8.7
Other	5.4	6.3	7.2	4.5
Base (aged 16-74)	101,536	137,444	127,543	18,645

Notes to table
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.1.2 A much more varied pattern is found amongst the other religious groups. Hindus prove to be relatively economically active, with Jewish persons a little less so, and only a narrow majority of Buddhists and Sikhs economically active. The profile of the Muslim group is striking, in that they are the only religious group within which a minority (42%) are recorded as economically active.

3.1.3 To some extent the Jewish profile here is a function of age, reflected in the relatively high proportions of retired or permanently sick persons. The low level of Buddhist economic activity is in some part related to the high proportion of economically inactive students (discussed below).

3.1.4 The Sikh and Muslim profiles may, in fact, be partly a function of cultural practices around gender. A fairly large proportion of Sikhs (11%) and, particularly, Muslims (18%) are looking after their home/family. The term 'economically inactive' should not, therefore, be confused with 'unemployed' as domestic labour is work, albeit undertaken outwith the formal labour market. The Muslim profile is also influenced by a relatively large proportion of students and a very low proportion of retired persons. This reflects the Muslim age profile noted in section 1.

3.1.5 The Hindu economic profile is distinctive in that they have relatively high rates of activity (in this respect they are second only to the 'no religion' group) and a relatively high proportion of students. As with the 'none' group this is partly a reflection of their gender balance and age profiles. It might be noted that relatively few Hindus fall into either the retired or permanently sick categories:

Table 3.1(b) Religion and Economic Status

% by column	Buddhist	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh
Economically active	52.5	61.0	57.4	42.1	53.6
Working - Part-time	7.1	8.6	10.6	8.9	11.1
Working - Full-time	32.6	42.9	39.5	22.9	33.2
Unemployed	7.7	5.3	3.0	5.8	4.8
Full-time student	5.2	4.2	4.3	4.5	4.5
Economically inactive	47.5	39.0	42.6	57.9	46.4
Retired	6.5	3.9	14.0	3.3	5.9
Student	21.3	16.2	8.5	16.2	9.6
Looking after home/family	7.1	8.0	5.0	17.7	11.1
Permanently sick/disabled	5.3	3.9	9.9	6.7	7.9
Other	7.3	7.1	5.2	14.1	11.8
Base (aged 16-74)	1,057	986	765	12,037	1,674

Notes to table
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.1.6 As noted above some religious groups are more likely to contain students than others. Table 3.1c notes the proportions in each group falling into one of the 'student' categories. It should be noted that for ease of presentation this table should be read left-to-right across the rows, rather than down the columns):

Table3.1(c) Students by religious group

% by row	Economically active students	Economically inactive students	All students as % of group	Base (aged 16-74)
None	4.9	7.9	12.8	101,536
Church of Scotland	2.4	4.0	6.4	137,444
Roman Catholic	2.8	4.3	7.0	127,543
Other Christian	5.7	14.1	19.8	18,645
Buddhist	5.2	21.3	26.5	1,057
Hindu	4.2	16.2	20.4	986
Jewish	4.3	8.5	12.8	765
Muslim	4.5	16.2	20.7	12,037
Sikh	4.5	9.6	14.1	1,674

Notes to table
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.1.7 Students comprise a particularly high proportion of Glasgow's Buddhists (27%), and relatively high proportions amongst Muslims (21%), Hindus (20%), and 'other Christians' (20%). They constitute a relatively low proportion amongst Presbyterians (6%) and Catholics (7%), and in part this will be a function of age, particularly amongst the Church of Scotland group.

3.1.8 The high proportion of students amongst some groups reflects a complex interplay of factors, certainly including age, and potentially reflecting some cultural values. It may be that certain groups ( e.g. Hindus, Muslims) particularly prize education as a laudable and profitable activity. More speculatively, it may be that the relatively high proportion of Buddhist students reflects in part cultural norms within the Chinese community, visiting students from the Far East, and young people of a non-Buddhist background becoming Buddhists during their student years. Available data, unfortunately, do not allow us to investigate that possibility further.

3.2 - Religion and Occupational Class

3.2.1 We find quite distinctive variations between religious groups when we consider the kinds of occupations people perform in the formal labour market. Occupational class in the Census, and most other contemporary social surveys, is measured by the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (abbreviated to NS- SEC). The full NS- SEC classification has eight occupational variables, but for the purposes of this report we have collapsed the first two categories ("Large employers and higher managerial occupations" and "Higher professional occupations") into a single category of Managers and Higher Professionals. This simplifies the presentation of the data without losing very much of its subtleties. It is also important to note that gender remains a crucial component in the labour market with segmentation and disadvantage still a key feature. The following account, therefore, splits the data between men and women.

3.2.2 Looking first at male workers, table 3.2a shows the occupational profiles of the 'no religion' and Christian groups. Despite many anecdotal accounts of sectarian (and, specifically, anti-Catholic) discrimination in and around Glasgow, and despite related and long-standing concerns about the extent of relative Catholic disadvantage, there is a singularly striking aspect to the Census findings. In Glasgow (mirroring Scotland as a whole) the male occupational profile of Catholics and the largest Protestant grouping (the Church of Scotland) are virtually identical.

3.2.3 Where there is some evidence of male Protestant advantage relative to Catholics is amongst the 'Other Christian' category, who are almost three times more likely to be in the Managerial/Professional than are Catholics. Indeed almost one in four 'other Christian' men are in the 'highest' occupational grouping. However, it must be remembered that they are similarly advantaged compared to Presbyterians so this is not a straightforward 'Protestant-Catholic' issue. Indeed it will be remembered that the 'other Christian' group is a very disparate one, and its aggregate nature may mask considerable variations in (dis)advantage within this group. The 'no religion' group are also strikingly different from the Presbyterian and Catholic profile and are, indeed, broadly similar to the 'other Christian' group:

Table 3.2(a) Men - Religion by Occupation ( NS- SEC, Classified persons only)

% by column	None	Church of Scotland	Roman Catholic	Other Christian
Managers/Higher Professionals	16.5	9.0	8.2	23.7
Lower Professional	24.3	16.8	16.2	26.2
Intermediate	8.5	6.8	7.1	7.6
Small employers/Own account workers	7.0	7.0	7.6	6.0
Lower supervisory/technical	10.3	14.8	13.6	9.0
Semi-routine occupations	12.6	15.0	15.3	10.6
Routine occupations	12.1	19.3	20.0	10.0
Never worked/long term unemployed	8.8	11.1	12.0	6.9
TOTAL	100.1	99.8	100	100
Base	39130	43272	40428	5327
Proportion of overall sample not classified (%)	22.7	32.2	30.3	32.7

Notes to table
Percentages need not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.2.4 Again we find considerable variation amongst the remaining religious groups, although the relatively small numbers of classified persons in some of the categories should be noted. The most striking group are the Hindu men, almost half of whom (49%) are Managers/Higher Professionals. Conversely, relatively few Muslims (10%) or Sikhs (6%) fall into this category. However, this need not demonstrate particular disadvantage among these two groups since we found broadly similar proportions amongst Presbyterians (9%) and Catholics (8%). In fact, the striking phenomenon is Hindu occupational success.

Table 3.2(b) Men - Religion by Occupation ( NS- SEC, Classified persons only)

% by column	Buddhist	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh
Managers/Higher Professionals	17.6	48.8	24.4	9.5	6.1
Lower Professional	23.7	14.3	32.8	12.3	12.1
Intermediate	5.5	4.0	7.4	4.9	6.3
Small employers/Own account workers	14.0	14.6	13.7	23.1	27.4
Lower supervisory/technical	6.9	1.6	4.1	5.6	7.0
Semi-routine occupations	14.3	7.8	8.1	19.0	19.4
Routine occupations	5.8	4.3	5.9	7.8	12.2
Never worked/long term unemployed	12.1	4.6	3.7	17.7	9.5
TOTAL	99.9	100	100.1	99.9	100
Base	363	371	271	4493	654
Proportion of overall sample not classified	33.8	30.4	32.1	27.9	22.9

Notes to table
Percentages need not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.2.5 That is not to say that there is no evidence of disadvantage. If we aggregate the three least advantaged occupational groups (those in 'Semi-routine' and 'Routine occupations' and the long-term unemployed), we find that this group accounts for almost half of Glasgow's Muslim male workers (45%) and almost as many Sikhs (41%). Likewise it accounts for very large proportions of the Church of Scotland group (45%) and of Catholics (47%). Considerably smaller proportions of the 'no religion' (32%), Buddhists (32%), and 'other Christian' (28%) groups fall into these categories. The lowest proportions of 'least advantaged' men are found amongst Glasgow's Hindus (17%) and Jewish-persons (18%). These figures, however, remain crude and general, and do not take into account differences (such as age) which may, in fact, be crucial. We shall return to this presently.

3.2.6 Do we find similar kinds of associations amongst female workers? Tables 3.2c and 3.2d replicate some, though by no means all, of the occupational patterns found amongst men. Again, the occupational profiles of Presbyterians and Catholics are strikingly similar, and again the 'other Christian' group is better represented amongst the 'higher' occupations. Indeed almost half (46%) of 'other Christian' women workers are in the 'highest' two groups, about the same proportions as table 3.2a found for 'Other Christian' men (50%). Non-religious women are also somewhat advantaged relative to Presbyterian and Catholic women, although this is less marked than was found amongst men.

Table 3.2(c) Women - Religion by Occupation ( NS- SEC, Classified persons only)

% by column	None	Church of Scotland	Roman Catholic	Other Christian
Managers/Higher Professionals	9.7	5.5	4.7	12.8
Lower Professional	28.3	22.4	22.4	33.1
Intermediate	17.5	18.8	17.4	16.6
Small employers/Own account workers	2.5	2.0	1.7	3.3
Lower supervisory/technical	4.5	5.0	4.9	3.5
Semi-routine occupations	18.0	21.3	22.3	14.8
Routine occupations	9.4	13.2	13.5	7.7
Never worked/long term unemployed	10.0	11.8	13.1	8.2
TOTAL	99.9	100	100	100
Base	36446	45192	44390	6299
Proportion of overall sample not classified	28.4	38.6	36.2	41.3

Notes to table
Percentages need not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.2.7 Amongst the other religions we find a repeated pattern of relative advantage amongst Hindu and, in particular, Jewish women. Whilst 62% of Hindu men were in the two most advantaged occupational categories these categories account for 40% of Hindu women. The respective Jewish proportions were 57% amongst men and 48% amongst women.

3.2.8 The extent of disadvantage amongst women is less clear given the likelihood that many women may be classified as having 'never worked' or as being 'long-term unemployed' when they are, in fact, fully occupied with domestic responsibilities. Four groups stand out as having a very high proportion of "unemployed" women: Hindus (24% of women are not working); Buddhists (24%); and particularly Sikhs (42%) and Muslims (61%). It is highly likely that these figures reflect cultural norms within certain religious/ethnic groups rather than disadvantage in the labour market:

Table 3.2(d) Women - Religion by Occupation ( NS- SEC, Classified persons only)

% by column	Buddhist	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh
Managers/Higher Professionals	9.2	20.8	14.7	3.8	4.2
Lower Professional	25.3	19.3	33.6	8.5	11.6
Intermediate	8.6	12.9	16.6	8.5	8.8
Small employers/Own account workers	9.8	7.3	8.5	4.2	9.8
Lower supervisory/technical	5.1	1.1	1.4	1.2	2.2
Semi-routine occupations	11.6	9.0	12.8	10.2	13.2
Routine occupations	6.3	6.2	4.7	2.3	8.2
Never worked/long term unemployed	24.1	23.5	7.6	61.3	42.1
TOTAL	100	100.1	99.9	100	100.1
Base	336	357	211	4389	646
Proportion of overall sample not classified	34.0	21.2	42.3	24.4	21.8

Notes to table
Percentages need not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.2.9 Disentangling the effects of gender and age from these data are specialist issues beyond the scope of this report, but it is worth reflecting on what they might suggest about relative advantage and disadvantage in the labour market (and, by extension, what it might say about issues of discrimination). To do this we present a final NS- SEC table containing information only on men aged 25-49. By restricting the table to this section of the population we can 'control' for gender, and in a more limited way for age. In order to simplify matters even further we have aggregated the different occupational groupings into just three broad (and, therefore, crude) categories:

Managerial-Professional (representing the first two groups of managerial and professional workers);
Intermediate (containing the next three categories), and;
Routine (containing Semi- and Routine occupations and the long-term unemployed)

3.2.10 What does table 3.2e tell us? Firstly, it tells us that controlling (in this restrictive sense) for age makes little impact on the overall pattern of data. Hindus, Jewish-persons and 'other Christians' remain more likely to be in 'managerial-professional' occupations; Presbyterians, Catholics, Muslims and Sikhs remain relatively concentrated in 'routine' occupations. Within this schema Buddhists and the non-religious remain somewhat in the middle:

Table 3.2(e) Men aged 25-49 - Religion by Occupation

% by column	None	Church of Scotland	Roman Catholic	Other Christian	Buddhist	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh
Managerial-Professional	45.6	30.0	28.7	55.8	47.1	62.8	62.5	23.4	20.0
Intermediate	25.6	29.1	29.1	21.6	22.9	21.4	24.6	34.2	40.7
Routine	28.7	41.0	42.3	22.7	30.0	15.7	13.0	42.4	39.3
TOTAL	99.9	100.1	100.1	100.1	100	99.9	100.1	100	100
Base	27083	25514	25337	3484	253	267	163	3248	445

Notes to table
Percentages need not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.2.11 One final issue to consider about the relationship between religion and occupation is that of the potential direction of causal effects. For example, the assumption may well be that an individual's religion might have consequences for their occupation, in that they may face prejudice or discrimination, or that the tenets of their faith may predispose them towards (or away from) certain occupations. However, it is also possible that the reverse may be true and that, to some extent, an individual's occupation may affect their religion - or at least the way that they describe that religion in surveys.

3.2.12 An example of this relates to the occupational differences between Presbyterians, Catholics and the 'no religion' group. We know (from Section 1) that a large proportion of the 'no religion' group were brought up as Presbyterians or as Catholics but have, at some point, discarded this religious identity. It is possible that an individual's decision to retain or discard the religious identity of their childhood is to some extent mediated by their occupational mobility. In other words there may be a secular effect to upward social mobility by which Protestants and Catholics moving into higher-grade occupations cease to regard themselves as Protestants or Catholics as they gain other occupational identities. Again this issue is beyond the scope of this report but it is worth emphasising that showing an apparent association between two variables ( e.g. occupation and religion) neither proves a causal relationship nor shows a clear causal direction.

3.3 - Religion and Housing Tenure

3.3.1 There are clear variations in housing tenure across religious group. Around half the no religion and Christian groups are owner-occupiers. Around a quarter of Catholics and Presbyterians rented from Glasgow City Council ⁷², much higher proportionately than any other group:

Table 3.3(a) Religion and Housing Tenure

% by column	None	Church of Scotland	Roman Catholic	Other Christian
Owned	53.7	52.2	49.8	50.7
Rented Council	19.3	25.7	26.7	16.5
Other social rented	11.2	12.1	13.7	8.5
Private rented	11.1	4.6	4.5	15.8
Rent free	3.0	3.5	3.8	4.0
Communal	1.7	1.9	1.6	4.5
TOTAL	100	100	100.1	100
Base	131,189	182,172	168,733	23,488

Notes to table
Percentages need not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.3.2 The groups most likely to own their own homes are Jewish-persons (63% of whom are owner-occupiers), Muslims (62%), and, in particular, Sikhs (77%). In the Jewish case this level of owner-occupation reflects the Jewish group's age and occupation profile. In the Muslim and Sikh case, however, it is possible that the high levels of home ownership (again considering their age and occupational profiles) are likely to be mediated to cultural values, in which home ownership is prized for its own sake. Equally, however, it may be that the high level of owner-occupancy in some groups reflects unmet housing needs within the social-rented sector. There may well be, for example, insufficient social housing of a suitable size for minority groups likely to have (relatively) large family households.

3.3.3 The relatively high rates of private renting amongst Buddhists and Hindus may, at least in part, reflect the proportions of these groups in student accommodation:

Table 3.3(b) Religion and Housing Tenure

% by column	Buddhist	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh
Owned	50.3	54.1	63.3	61.9	76.8
Rented Council	10.8	4.6	8.9	8.5	6.0
Other social rented	8.9	5.3	7.7	7.0	4.8
Private rented	19.0	27.6	10.0	14.9	8.0
Rent free	4.4	6.2	2.9	7.1	3.9
Communal	6.6	2.2	7.4	0.7	0.5
TOTAL	100	100	100.2	100.1	100
Base	1,194	1,209	1,083	17,792	2,374

Notes to table
Percentages need not add up to 100 due to rounding.
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.4 - Religion and Educational Qualification

3.4.1 The final socio-economic measure to be considered is highest attained educational qualification. The Census splits qualifications into four broad groups. Group 1 relates to qualifications at the 'O' or 'Standard' grade level or equivalent; Group 2 to qualifications around the 'Higher' grade level or equivalent; Group 3 to further education qualifications below the degree level (such as the Higher National Diploma) or equivalent; and Group 4 to Higher Education degrees or Professional Qualifications. It should be noted that age will be a crucial underlying factor in any individual's attainment given the expansion of educational opportunities since the 1960s.

3.4.2 Mirroring the striking similarity of their occupational profile, Glasgow's Presbyterians and Catholics have virtually the same educational profile, with almost a half in each group (both 48%) having no educational qualifications, and around one in eight (both 13%) having a degree. Again this might reflect an association between educational attainment and religious identity by which highly educated Presbyterians and Catholics discard their religious identity. Again we find a broadly similar pattern between the no-religion and other Christian groups:

Table 3.4(a) Religion and Educational Profile

% by column	None	Church of Scotland	Roman Catholic	Other Christian
No qualifications *	26.8	47.9	48.0	24.9
Group 1	19.5	21.8	21.9	15.4
Group 2	18.4	12.3	12.3	19.6
Group 3	8.1	5.0	5.2	6.0
Group 4	27.2	13.1	12.6	34.2
TOTAL	100	100.1	100	100.1
Base (aged 16-74)	101,536	137,444	127,543	18,645

Notes to table
Percentages need not add up to 100 due to rounding.
* No qualifications' includes qualifications outwith these groups
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

3.4.3 Both the Muslim and Sikh populations show some similarity to Presbyterians and Catholics, although one in five Muslims (19%) are graduates. Strikingly, more than half the Hindu group possess higher education degrees, which may in some part explaining their relatively advantaged position in the labour market:

Table 3.4(b) Religion and Educational Profile

% by column	Buddhist	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh
No qualifications *	26.9	19.3	29.5	43.6	47.1
Group 1	10.7	10.6	11.9	17.3	20.9
Group 2	18.4	12.0	19.0	12.7	11.8
Group 3	5.9	5.7	5.2	7.4	6.6
Group 4	38.2	52.4	34.4	19.1	13.6
TOTAL	100.1	100	100	100.1	100
Base (aged 16-74)	1,057	986	765	12,037	1,674

Notes to table
Percentages need not add up to 100 due to rounding.
* No qualifications' includes qualifications outwith these groups
Source: Census of Scotland, 2001

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