Intergenerational Mobility Rates of Urban School Teachers

Abstract

The occupation of public school teacher is analyzed in terms of the intergenerational flow of personnel from eight occupational origins. Data from a regional sample of teachers are used to determine if the rates of intergenerational mobility differ over a period of time, as simulated with five age groups, and across occupational family origins. Analysis of mobility ratios by age groups reveals the following: (1) professional and managerial occupational categories contribute to teaching well over their expected share, but this ratio is smaller for younger than for older teachers: (2) the three occupational categories of skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled together contribute less than chance expectations, but this ratio is larger for younger than for older teachers; (3) ratios of mobility from clerical and sales, farms, and service are both erratic across age groups and generally small; and (4) males from blue-collar origins have increasingly utilized teaching at both the elementary and secondary level as a vehicle for social mobility. The data suggest that the occupation of teaching is becoming increasingly more accessible to children of lower prestige origins.