Sex differences in the process of occupational attainment: A closer look

Abstract

Most previous studies of sex differences in occupational attainment indicate that the two sexes attain the same mean level of occupational status and do so by similar processes. These studies have examined the level of occupational status achieved only at a single point in time and have not distinguished between the process by which those of each sex acquire a given level of status at entry into the labor force and the process by which their occupational status changes over the adult life cycle. They also have ignored a large proportion of women in the sample since they have been based only on women employed at the time of the survey. Analyzing data from a 15-year follow-up study of the high school students studied by J. S. Coleman in The Adolescent Society (1961, Free Press, New York) this paper examines sex differences in the determination of occupational prestige both at entry into the labor force and at the time of the follow-up survey. The analysis is based on an elaborated model of the occupational attainment process, and the parameters of the model are estimated for all women and men who entered the labor force. The results indicate that although the mean level of occupational status at entry into the labor force is virtually the same for the two sexes, men experience greater upward mobility after entry than women. Sex differences are documented in the process by which occupational prestige is determined, both at entry into the labor force and at the time of the follow-up survey. Ignoring women who are not in the labor force is shown to affect the analysis, particularly the relationship between occupational prestige at entry into the labor force and occupational prestige at a subsequent point in time.