High-income Occupations Research Articles

Transformative Impact of Green Jobs on Employment Opportunities for Women and Minorities in America

The exigence of conducting this research is the fast-growing threat of climate change in America. Climate change brings changes in American society socially and economically. This paper aims to explore how the development of green jobs impacts employment of women and ethnic minorities in the United States. The paper will utilize an approach that involves analyzing historical data, statistics, and trends to assess how green jobs could affect women and minority groups in the United States. Green jobs can be easily integrated into existing industries and provide the opportunity to improve female and ethnic minority employment in the United States. Women and ethnic minority groups are currently underrepresented in green jobs and other high-income occupations, causing significant wage gaps between them and white men. Through the pursuit in higher education and further advocating of sustainability, women and ethnic minority have the opportunity in the future to thrive in green jobs.

Progressive income tax and comparative advantage in trade

This study examines how a nation’s progressive personal income tax system impacts its comparative advantage in industries characterized by a large share of high-income occupations. While prior research has explored the economic consequences of income tax policies, little is known about their specific implications for a country’s competitive edge in international trade. We employ comprehensive world trade data to investigate the relationship between income tax progressiveness and industry competitiveness. Our analysis reveals that countries with more progressive income tax systems tend to exhibit comparative disadvantages in industries prominently featuring high-income occupations, including high-tech and professional services. This phenomenon can be attributed to a key mechanism: progressive income tax policies alter occupational choices by discouraging high-income pursuits, ultimately eroding the competitiveness of industries that heavily rely on these occupations. This research underscores the importance of policymakers considering the unintended consequences of income tax progressiveness on industry competitiveness in the global market.

Did the pandemic bring new features to counter-urbanisation? Evidence from Estonia

This paper aims to shed new light on changes in counter-urbanisation over the past three decades. A specific focus will be placed on new features of domestic migration to non-metropolitan rural areas which have become apparent during the global coronavirus pandemic. We focus on the intensity, origins, and destinations of counter-urban moves, and on the individual characteristics of counter-urban movers. Based on a case study of Estonia, our main findings show, firstly, that urbanisation has been the predominant migration trend across the past thirty years, with the main destination of domestic migrants being the capital city and its urban region. Secondly, we find that counter-urban moves have gained importance over time and especially during the periods of economic bust. The most important new features of counter-urbanisation during the pandemic relate to the increased migration of families with children and people who have high-income occupations to non-metropolitan rural areas. These new features of domestic migration could serve to slow down or even reverse the long-term problem of population aging in the countryside and the loss of educated people there.

Socio-demographic characteristics and inequality in exposure to PM2.5: A case study in the Sichuan basin, China

The Chengyu Metropolitan Area (CYMA), located in the Sichuan Basin, is an unevenly developed region with high PM2.5 concentrations and a population of approximately 100 million. Although exposure inequality in air pollution has received increasing concern, no related research has been carried out in the CYMA to date. In this work, we used the concentration index to assess inequality of PM2.5 population-weighted exposure in the CYMA among different subgroups, including age, education, gender, occupation and GDP per capita in the city of residence. Our findings revealed that the non-disadvantaged subgroups (people aged 15–64, people with senior and higher education, people with high-income occupations and residents of cities with high GDP per capita) had a higher PM2.5 exposure in the CYMA, with the concentration indices of −0.03 (95% CI: 0.064, −0.001), −0.14 (95% CI: 0.221, −0.059), −0.15 (95% CI: 0.238, −0.056) and −0.27 (95% CI: 0.556, 0.012), opposite to previous studies in developed countries such as the United States and France. In addition, exposure differences among cities were much larger than those among populations in the CYMA. These findings may benefit the government in identifying disproportionately exposed subgroups in developing regions, and suggest that related measures should initially be carried out for cities exposed to high PM2.5 concentrations rather than for populations exposed to high PM2.5 concentrations.

Which dots to connect? Employment centers and commuting inequalities in Bogotá

Accessibility and equality evaluations have been primarily focused on residential location. However, workplace location might be an equivalent contributor to inequalities in the travel experience and accessibility. Traditionally, transport planning connects high-demand areas with the best-quality and capacity transport infrastructures. Literature supports that employment centers (EC) receive mainly workers in certain middle-to high-income occupations. This condition results in a type of segregation pattern associated with trip destinations and modal choice similar to those reported for the household location. This paper investigates commuting from a different standpoint, emphasizing the need to consider workplace location and employment distribution within cities. We identify five main EC in Bogotá, Colombia, and explore their association with the commuting mode choice of three population groups using mixed logit models. Results indicate that people who work in any EC tend to use more public transport (PT). Nevertheless, the probability of selecting PT differs among groups. Specifically, for low-income commuters, PT represents lower utility than that for middle-income commuters if their job is located in an EC. The fact that the population most likely to be public transport captive does not find this alternative as attractive as the middle-income segment needs further investigation for better policymaking.

Misconceptions of earnings and their consequences for social stratification in vocational aspirations and attainment

ABSTRACT This paper makes two contributions to the literature on social stratification in vocational attainment. First, we evaluate whether labour market literacy, as measured by knowledge about earnings in different occupations, is socially stratified. Second, we analyse whether differences in expected earnings between high-income and low-income occupations contribute to the social stratification in vocational aspirations and attainment using serial mediation based on data from the German National Educational Panel Study. We find that students are well informed about earnings, on average, but substantially underestimate earnings in some occupations. Students from low socio-economic status (SES) families underestimate earnings more than those from high SES families, particularly earnings in high-status occupations. Therefore, low SES students expect smaller earning differences between high-income and low-income occupations than high-SES students. In turn, small expected differences between high-income and low-income occupations are associated with lower vocational aspirations as well as attainments. Differences in expected earnings of high-income and low-income occupations mediate 4% of the differences in vocational aspirations by parental SES and 2% of the differences in vocational attainment.

Vertical position can affect categorization of the rich and the poor in Chinese culture

This study explored whether vertical position affects social categorization of the rich and the poor. Experiment 1 used high- and low-income occupations as stimuli, and found participants categorized high-income occupations faster when they were presented in the top vertical position compared to the bottom vertical position. In Experiment 2, participants responded using either the “up” or “down” key to categorize high- and low-income occupations, and responded faster to high-income occupations with the “up” key and low-income occupations with the “down” key. In Experiment 3, names identified as belonging to either rich or poor individuals were presented at the top or bottom of a screen, and the results were the same as in Experiments 1 and 2. These findings suggest that social categorization based on wealth involved perceptual simulations of vertical position, and that vertical position affects the social categorization of the rich and the poor.

Progressive Income Tax and Comparative Advantage in Trade

We show in the world trade data that countries with more progressive personal income tax system are less likely to have comparative advantage in industries that employ a greater share of high-income occupations, such as high-tech industries and professional services. Moreover, when countries increase their income tax progressiveness over time, they lose comparative advantage in sectors that use high-paying occupations intensively. We propose two theoretical mechanisms to explain these empirical observations: one is the occupational choice model based on the trade-off between the wage and leisure in the Heckscher-Ohlin framework; the other is the Heckscher-Ohlin model with international immigration of high income workers. Both models demonstrate that progressive income tax pushes workers away from high-income occupations and undermines the comparative advantage in industries that rely heavily on these occupations. Policy makers need to consider the side effect of income tax on industry competitiveness in the global market when fighting inequality.

Changing occupational structures and residential segregation in New York, London and Tokyo.

Based on data from the 1980s, Sassen's influential book 'The Global City' interrogated how changes in the occupational structure affect socio-economic residential segregation in global cities. Here, using data for New York City, London and Tokyo, we reframe and answer this question for recent decades. Our analysis shows an increase in the share of high-income occupations, accompanied by a fall in low-income occupations in all three cities, providing strong evidence for a consistent trend of professionalization of the workforce. Segregation was highest in New York and lowest in Tokyo. In New York and London, individuals in high-income occupations are concentrating in the city centre, while low-income occupations are pushed to urban peripheries. Professionalization of the workforce is accompanied by reduced levels of segregation by income, and two ongoing megatrends in urban change: gentrification of inner-city neighbourhoods and suburbanization of poverty, with larger changes in the social geography than in levels of segregation.

Spatial Size Can Affect Social Categorization of the Rich and the Poor

Previous research has shown that representation of certain social-category knowledge, such as that regarding gender, involves the process of perceptual simulation. The present research extended these findings and explored whether social categorization based on wealth, which is an important dimension of social categorization, involved perceptual simulation of spatial size. In Experiment 1, we used high- and low-income occupations as stimuli; categorization of high-income occupations presented in larger font was faster relative to that of those presented in small font, and vice versa for low-income occupations. In Experiments 2, 3, and 4, we used high-income occupations without social power and low-income occupations, names designated as those of rich and poor people, and idioms describing wealth and poverty as stimuli, respectively. All three experiments showed that responses to wealth-related stimuli in larger font were faster relative to those to the same stimuli in small font, and vice versa for poverty-related stimuli. These results suggest that social categorization based on wealth is grounded in perceptual simulation of spatial size.

Multilevel socioeconomic differentials in allostatic load among Chinese adults

Capitalizing on the biomarker data from the 2009 wave of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), this study examines the extent to which multilevel socioeconomic status (SES) gets “under the skin” to affect individuals’ health, measured by allostatic load (AL). Multilevel analyses suggest that in the context of China's socioeconomic and health transitions, high income, prestigious but sedentary occupations, and high level of urbanization were independently associated with higher AL scores, or increased health risks of physiological dysfunction in cardiovascular, metabolic, inflammation, and urinary systems. Higher educational attainment was related to a decrease in AL, but the significant difference was only observed among the college-educated compared to lower levels of education.

Using Standardized Test Scores to Include General Cognitive Ability in Education Research and Policy.

In education research and education policy, much attention is paid to schools, curricula, and teachers, but little attention is paid to the characteristics of students. Differences in general cognitive ability (g) are often overlooked as a source of important variance among schools and in outcomes among students within schools. Standardized test scores such as the SAT and ACT are reasonably good proxies for g and are available for most incoming college students. Though the idea of g being important in education is quite old, we present contemporary evidence that colleges and universities in the United States vary considerably in the average cognitive ability of their students, which correlates strongly with other methods (including international methods) of ranking colleges. We also show that these g differences are reflected in the extent to which graduates of colleges are represented in various high-status and high-income occupations. Finally, we show how including individual-level measures of cognitive ability can substantially increase the statistical power of experiments designed to measure educational treatment effects. We conclude that education policy researchers should give more consideration to the concept of individual differences in cognitive ability as well as other factors.

The Structure of Urban Poverty in Nigeria: The Calabar Municipality experience

As Nigeria experiences the major thrust of urban growth, urban poverty has become the most intractable phenomenon attracting the attention of concerned observers. Because Calabar Municipality lacks solid economic base it cannot easily absorb its burgeoning population into productive medium and high income occupations. A wide range of interrelated variables, including the people's annual income, their educational level, occupational distribution, residential status and even psychological factors, explain the structure of poverty in Calabar. As a result the poor in Calabar are seen to fall within a wide spectrum of deprivation, ranging from the “poor of hope” who are capable of moving on their own across the poverty line, to the “hopeless poor” who require assistance for survival. Thus the study suggests that since a mix lot of factors are involved in the structure of urban poverty the phenomenon calls for a systems approach which takes into consideration the interacting characteristics of the diverse parameters of the whole urban system, in the formulation of anti-poverty measures. Admittedly, any war against poverty in this city is destined to be one of the longest wars in human history. However, it is possible to substantially reduce the yawning gap between the rich and the poor which is the crux of the problem facing policymakers in this city.

Conventional Religiosity, Attitudes toward Conflict Crime, and Income Stratification in the United States

This paper speaks to the question: Do religiosity and concomitant moral views have any impact upon income allocation in contemporary American society, and, if so, how is that influence exercised? Analysis of national survey data produces an affirmative answer to the question. Net of other variables, tolerant attitudes toward "conflict crime" positively afect incomes, and conventional religiosity influences income through these attitudes. It is argued that these findings are consistent with the rise of managerial capitalism in America, the substantive nature of high income occupations, and the values of ,highly educated church attenders.

INCOME AND CONSUMPTION DISTRIBUTION TRENDS IN THE PHILIPPINES, 1950–70*

Unlike most developing countries, the Philippines has had several (four) reasonably comparable family income and expenditure surveys, covering a reasonable period of time (15 years). This study draws on those surveys and on wage data in an attempt to judge how, if at all, the distribution of income has been changing. The household survey data shows a declining share of both income and consumption for the top income groups; for the bottom quintile the share of recorded income fell while that of recorded consumption rose. When possible biases of the data are allowed for, it is hard to argue that either a narrowing or widening of income differentials occurred over these years. Real wages of a number of important occupations appear to have fallen, however. Only a partial reconciliation of the trends indicated by these wage series and the income trends for various occupational groups implicit in the household survey data was possible, indicating either data problems or the need for more subtle interpretations of the data. Since structural change in the labour force has been rapid (an increasing share being found in the high income occupations as time passed), declining wage rates for certain lower income groups cannot be taken to imply a general worsening of distribution. Our final conclusion is that distribution has probably changed little, and is about as likely to have changed one way as the other.

Political participation and income level: An exchange

Let us first consider voting behavior. Frey's explanation seems to imply one (or more) of several things: (1) that high income individuals are more efficient in the consummation of voting, where the act includes getting to the polling place, deciding upon whom to vote for, etc.; (2) that voting involves activities somewhat akin to those undertaken by high income individuals in the course of their daily business; or (3) that high income occupations involve relatively higher mental effort and lower physical effort than low income occupations.

Scholastic Achievement and Occupation

I Problem and Method. Any study of vocations in American society must necessarily proceed from the demonstrable fact that something ap* preaching an occupational hierarchy exists, that specialized occupations carry with them varying degrees of social and economic status, and that their assignment to positions on the occupational scale reflects in a general way the prestige, or lack of it, which society attaches to the different tasks performed. Because this conception of the occupational pyramid represents essentially a set of social values which not only undergoes changes but which also varies from group to group, no very precise delineation of it can be achieved. Yet it is a social phenomenon of much importance, for the value-judgments placed on occupations do influence the lives and activities of every person in our culture. As a corollary to this stereotype of the occupational pyramid is the fairly common belief that intelligence is in some way related to occupation, that those occupations which are accorded relatively high prestige tend to attract intellectually superior persons, and that the low-prestige and low-income tasks represent the vocational channels into which individuals of lesser ability are inclined to drift. This popular notion of the relationship between ability and occupational status has received considerable confirmation from numerous scientific studies. Yet the methodology employed in these investigations may be seriously open to doubt because usually they have dealt not with the individuals in given occupations but rather with their children. What they have shown, for the most part, is that children whose ftahers are identified with the high-prestige and high-income occupations have on the average a higher measured intelligence than children whose fathers are lower down the occupational scale. It is known, of course, that the measured intelligence of soldiers in the first World War showed gradations of ability from the professions to unskilled labor, but in this instance the individuals were adults who had already been conditioned by their own occupational experiences. In the present report the writers have sought to avoid some of the imperfections of methodology characteristic of most of the earlier studies by ascertaining what relationship exists between the abilities of the individual as measured during adolescence and the occupation which he