14
* Respondents' Aspirations for Themselves and Their Children
The workers in the sample did not appear to have high aspirations for
themselves.
When asked what kind of work they honed to be doing in 5
years time, a surprisingly large number, 46, wanted to keep their present
jab. A further 32 chose jobs that would involve sideways moves in the
hierarchy of job prestige and 11 gave answers such as, housewife
or don't know. Only 20 indicated that they would like a better job of some
kind; of these '5 wanted to start their own businesses; 5 had aspirations
for technologist, professional or managerial tyne jobs. The rest either
wanted lower white collar/technician level jobs, foreman level jobs or
a better grade of manual work. There were, however, substantial differences
between the sub-groups here. Thus those willing to keep their present
jobs accounted for 61% of the older men and 78% of the older women compared
to 22% of the younger men and 44% of the younger women. Those wishing to
keep their present jobs also accounted for 70% of those employed in large
firms compared to 22% of those employed in small firms.
The respondents' reply to a further specific question on desire/ start un
in business on their own account confirms the previous finding.
In fact,
just under a third had considered this. There were again, however,
substantial differences between the sub groups within sample. 61% of the
younger men nursed this ambition compared to 35% of the older men, 22%
of the younger wonen and none of the older women. There was also some
difference by fim size, more of the respondents employed in small firms
(40%) had considered this compared to 24% of those employed in large
firms. This general lack of ambition by the respondents for starting un
business on their own account is paralled by the respondents' lack of
experience in this field. In fact only 8 of the respondents had ever
had a business of their own. Thus the respondents had been employees
rather than small scale capitalists in the part and preferred to remain
employees in the future.