3 - Trends in the Occupational Mobility of U.S. Men, 1962–1972

Abstract

Age-specific shifts in the male occupation distribution of the U.S. from 1962 to 1970 are like those of the past several decades. There were shifts toward the ranks of salaried professionals and managers and skilled workers and away from the ranks of proprietors, laborers and farmers. These changes may be described as a shift from manual to nonmanual occupations combined with shifts from lower to higher status occupations within both the manual and nonmanual groups. Changing occupational origins accounts for a modest upgrading of the occupation distribution, while changes in mobility to first jobs have no systematic effect. The largest component of intercohort shifts in the occupation distribution is change in mobility patterns from first to current occupations. The historical trend of upward mobility among U.S. men is neither uniform nor inevitable. There was more change in occupational mobility patterns in 1962-1970 than in 1952-1962, but less than in 1942-1952. The continuation of historical trends of occupational mobility is strictly limited by the depletion of occupation groups-service workers, laborers and farmers-which have earlier served as sources of recruitment into higher status occupations.