Intergenerational Occupational Mobility Research Articles

Share the love: Parental bias, women empowerment and intergenerational mobility

This study provides empirical evidence and develops a model that captures the complex intra-household bargaining interactions and gender-based intergenerational occupational mobility. Using panel data from Nigeria, our estimates show that greater intra-household female bargaining power leads to greater intergenerational occupational mobility for sons more than daughters. Similarly, the median age at first marriage has a positive impact on occupational mobility for both daughters and sons. However, benefit is larger for sons. In the model, parental gender bias is modeled as non-pecuniary (psychic) cost – a representation of parents’ pessimistic attitude towards their children’s adulthood outcomes – which negatively affects the marginal benefit of investing in children’s human capital. The decision of parents is critical in determining children’s mobility and becomes the basis of gender-based differences in human capital investment and intergenerational persistence.

Human capital matters:intergenerational occupational mobility in rural China

ABSTRACT Intergenerational occupational mobility often indicates inequality in society, and occupational mobility in rural China reflects the labour migration from rural to urban areas. Human capital is critical to occupational mobility; however, studies on occupational mobility in rural areas spanning over three generations, from the human capital perspective, are scant. This study analyzes data of three generations from Chinese Rural Development Surveys to examine intergenerational occupational mobility of rural Chinese households. Specifically, considering that the term ‘mobility’ refers to differences in occupation of parents and their offspring, this study examines education and skills training differences between the two as independent variables to ascertain their influence on occupational mobility, rather than simply examining parents’ education and skills training. A series of descriptive analysis and regressions confirm that education and workforce skills training are the key determinants that enable farmers to move upward in occupational status. These variables also influence the direction and distance of occupational mobility for rural households. This indicates that the government should invest more in human capital, especially by supporting increased access to both education and training.

Mobility, Inequality, and Beliefs About Distribution and Redistribution

AbstractClassic theory has long been interested in mobility, but with limited attention to the implications of intergenerational movement for inequality-specific beliefs. In this article, we introduce a dynamic conception and modeling of the impact of intergenerational occupational mobility on inequality orientations generally and distributive and redistributive beliefs in particular. The diagonal models we employ using 2008–2010 General Social Survey samples—modeling that considers intergenerational occupational origin and destination, and that is replicated on a larger sample across three waves of the GSS—reveal strong conservatizing effects of mobility overall. Those who occupationally fall relative to their parents, although somewhat more progressive by virtue of the downward mobility experience, tend to cling more so to the conservative beliefs characteristic of their higher status origins. Those experiencing mobility gains, in contrast, usually adopt the more conservative orientations of those who they are now surrounded by and in ways that legitimize individual efforts. These patterns are notably pronounced compared to other aspects of one’s job, political affiliation, and status-related attributes; are somewhat stronger among men than women; and differ significantly for Blacks. We elaborate and conclude by highlighting the need for a mobility-centered corrective to sociological understandings of inequality beliefs and how workplace-related experiences in particular shape ideological leanings.

On the way to becoming a society of downward mobility? Intergenerational occupational mobility in seven West German birth cohorts (1944–1978)

Many studies on social mobility use operationalizations of social positions that do not take occupational upgrading into account. In order to estimate social mobility patterns net of occupational upgrading, I propose an operationalization involving administrative data to measure social positions by applying a percentile approach. Based on this measurement I calculate absolute and relative intergenerational mobility patterns.Using this operationalization, I aim to answer the question of how far intergenerational mobility patterns have changed over time in West Germany. Therefore, I analyze the occupational data of 7,416 38- to 42-year-olds born between 1944 and 1978 belonging to the sixth starting cohort of the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). Compared to previous studies, I observe significantly higher rates of downward mobility. However, I do not find any cohort trends in absolute mobility rates and do not detect any changes in social fluidity patterns. I therefore conclude that there are no cohort trends in absolute or relative intergenerational mobility in West Germany, implying that it is not on its way to becoming a society of downward mobility. In contrast to previous studies, my results indicate high social fluidity and no changes in relative mobility over time. Hence, the picture of a rigid German social structure should be reconsidered.

Analysis of Occupation Intergenerational Mobility Mechanism: Based on the Perspective of Floating Population and Registered Residence System

The data of China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) were used in this paper, rural population migration variables were introduced for the first time, and combined with registered residence system, and the influence of the direction of intergenerational occupational mobility of the population born between 1960 and 1989 was studied. Meanwhile, special attention was paid to the mobility of the agricultural sector. The study found: firstly, the upward mobility of occupation intergenerational mobility is the dominant trend in China, and the upward mobility of farmers plays an important role in the trend, but it’s difficult to achieve leapfrog upward mobility. Occupation is the registered residence of rural registered residence; Secondly, population mobility is conducive to the upward mobility of the occupation, but the intensity of this factor is gradually weakening; Third, the registered residence system leads to unequal opportunities for occupation intergenerational mobility, and urban hukou groups are in a favourable position in the process of upward intergenerational mobility, and can avoid downward mobility

Does Regime Change Affect Intergenerational Mobility? Evidence from German Reunification

Abstract This study uses the natural experiment of German reunification and a difference-in-differences approach to test whether the political and economic transition in East Germany in 1990 affected intergenerational occupational and educational mobility. Results obtained using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study show that German reunification did neither strongly affect occupational nor educational mobility. These findings are robust to operationalizing social origin in various ways. Admittedly, reunification may have had small or long-term effects on occupational and educational mobility that cannot be uncovered with the data and research design employed in this study. However, the findings rule out that there were large, short- or medium-term effects of German reunification on intergenerational mobility. These findings are at odds with theories that argue that institutional change has strong, immediate causal effects on intergenerational mobility.

U.S. Occupational Mobility of Children of Immigrants Based on Parents' Origin-Country Occupation.

This study provides a national-level assessment of occupational mobility and early-career attainment of children of immigrants based on parents' origin-country occupation. Exploiting unique aspects of the Educational Longitudinal Study, we examine how parent-child U.S. intergenerational occupational mobility patterns and child occupational attainment differ based on parental premigration occupational status (i.e., low- vs. high-skilled) and parental postmigration occupational mobility (i.e., upward, same, or downward). Our results suggest misestimation in intergenerational mobility research if parents' origin-country occupation is excluded. Including parents' origin-country occupation, we find that the children of immigrants are recovering from instances of parental occupational downgrading, building on parental advances, and advancing where parents could not. Furthermore, most children of immigrants do as well or better occupationally than children of non-Hispanic White natives. Strong educational investments help explain this advantage, particularly for children of high-skilled immigrants. However, results indicate that all children of immigrants would attain even more if they faced fewer postmigration barriers, especially children of low-skilled immigrants. These results advance immigrant selection and assimilation theories by demonstrating how pre- and postmigration factors influence occupational attainment of children of immigrants.

A capability pathway to subjective economic well-being: Looking beyond materialism

By integrating sociological factors, this study explores novel causal mechanisms to broaden the understanding of subjective economic well-being (SEWB). The results of a probit regression analysis of Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS) cross-sectional and panel data reveal a positive, significant effect of successful upward intergenerational occupational mobility on improved perceptions of SEWB. The findings remain robust and significant irrespective of changes in the acquisition and possession of household material assets. The empirical evidence presented herein showcases the utility of adding sociological factors to the discourse on SEWB. Additionally, the present study offers an alternative perspective on the primacy accorded to material possessions in the SEWB literature in marketing. The functionings-capabilities framework is offered as an explanatory framework to interpret the findings. Together, the study offers clear theoretical and managerial contributions to a more nuanced understanding of SEWB.

INTERGENERATIONAL OCCUPATIONAL MOBILITY IN 19TH-CENTURY SPAIN (VALENCIA), 1841-1870

ABSTRACTThis paper sheds light on a crucial period of Spanish economic history, analysing changes in intergenerational occupational mobility. We use newly collected empirical evidence from Valencia, a region that followed a path of growth based on agrarian capitalism focused on international markets. We show that occupational mobility improved between 1841 and 1850, but that this situation reversed during the following decades. The opportunities offered to individuals from poorer families quickly disappeared. Put in international perspective, occupational mobility in Valencia was far lower than in other European countries, where both downward and especially upward mobility were considerably higher. By 1870, Valencia had become a polarised society, where the lowest part of the income distribution suffered increasing pauperisation and downward mobility.

Intergenerational Occupational Mobility Among Men in Iran During 1996-2016

Intergenerational Occupational Mobility Among Men in Iran During 1996-2016

Intergenerational Occupational Mobility across Three Continents

I compare rates of intergenerational occupational mobility across four countries in the late nineteenth century: 1869–1895 Argentina, 1850–1880 United States, 1851–1881 Britain, and 1865–1900 Norway. Argentina and the United States had similar levels of intergenerational mobility, and these levels were above those of Britain and Norway. These findings suggest that the higher mobility of nineteenth-century United States relative to Britain might not have been a reflection of “American exceptionalism,” but rather a manifestation of more widespread differences between settler economies of the New World and Europe.

Linking individuals across historical sources: A fully automated approach*

Linking individuals across historical datasets relies on information such as name and age that is both non-unique and prone to enumeration and transcription errors. These errors make it impossible to find the correct match with certainty. In the first part of the paper, we suggest a fully automated probabilistic method for linking historical datasets that enables researchers to create samples at the frontier of minimizing type I (false positives) and type II (false negatives) errors. The first step guides researchers in the choice of which variables to use for linking. The second step uses the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm, a standard tool in statistics, to compute the probability that each two records correspond to the same individual. The third step suggests how to use these estimated probabilities to choose which records to use in the analysis. In the second part of the paper, we apply the method to link historical population censuses in the US and Norway, and use these samples to estimate measures of intergenerational occupational mobility. The estimates using our method are remarkably similar to the ones using IPUMS’, which relies on hand linking to create a training sample. We created an R code and a Stata command that implement this method.

Veteran Status, Income, and Intergenerational Mobility Across Three Cohorts of American Men

Existing research linking prior military employment with labor market outcomes has focused on comparing the relative income of veterans and nonveterans. However, people who join the armed forces are uniquely selected from the broader population, and the form and direction of selectivity has shifted over time, with differential enlistment rates by race, region, and socioeconomic status. Understanding changes in the demographic composition of enlistees and veterans has significant import for the study of social mobility, particularly given changes in the occupational structure since the mid-twentieth century and wage stagnation well into the new millennium. Furthermore, labor market polarization and increases in educational attainment since WWII raise additional concerns about the social origins of military personnel and their occupational trajectories after discharge. Using data from the National Longitudinal Surveys, we investigate how social background is linked to both income and occupational mobility among veterans from three cohorts of American men: World War II, Vietnam, and the All-Volunteer Force. We find few benefits for veterans, for either income or intergenerational occupational mobility, once social background is controlled, suggesting that selection into the armed forces largely governs outcomes in the civilian labor market. Our findings have significant importance for understanding civilian labor market outcomes and trajectories of social mobility during distinct phases of military staffing.

Examination of intergenerational occupational mobility among Indian women

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the intergenerational occupational mobility for young women (vis-à-vis their mothers) in India and six of its states from its diverse geographic regions which contribute 39 percent of the Indian population.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses transition/mobility matrices and multiple mobility measures for examination of intergenerational occupational mobility among young females in India by using the data from the “India Youth Survey: Situation and Needs” from the year 2006 to 2007.FindingsThe study finds that intergenerational occupational mobility among the young women in India is about 71 percent, but surprisingly it is predominantly downwards. The urban areas have higher occupational mobility than the rural areas. However, upward intergenerational occupational mobility is lower among the young SC/ST women compared to the young women belonging to the “Others” caste category. Moreover, upward mobility in the economically and demographically poorer states is much lower than that of other states.Originality/valueThe present study is the only study which examines how women perform vis-à-vis their mothers in terms of occupational attainment in the Indian context.

Social mobility and subjective well-being revisited: The importance of individual locus of control

It has been postulated that movements both upward and downward the social ladder across generations attenuate individual subjective well-being (SWB) in terms of life satisfaction or happiness. Yet, results remain inconclusive concerning whether only upward, only downward, or both forms of social mobility actually harm SWB or not. We argue that whether social mobility is experienced as harmful depends on individuals’ psycho-social dispositions. As an applied example, we ask whether harmful effects of intergenerational social mobility on SWB may be different for individuals with an internal vs. external locus of control, i.e. whether individuals ascribe control of events to themselves or to outside forces. An internal locus of control has been observed to act as a buffer against stressful life events, to protect from role strain, and to better suit jobs with high demands for autonomy and flexibility. For this reason, it may attenuate potentially harmful social mobility effects as well. Using German panel data of a cohort of former Gymnasium students, we estimate a multilevel panel model of the interaction between intergenerational occupational mobility and locus of control on SWB controlled for other well-known predictors of SWB. Results suggest that respondents with a more internal locus of control are hardly affected by social mobility. In contrast, respondents with a more external locus of control obviously suffer from upward social mobility. We conclude that (i) an internal locus of control may buffer against harmful effects of upward social mobility on SWB, and (ii) considering differential effects by individual psycho-social dispositions can contribute to resolve inconsistencies in the analysis of social mobility effects.

Occupational Mobility during South Africa's Industrial Take‐Off

AbstractIn the absence of historical income or education data, the change in occupations over time can be used as a measure of mobility. This paper investigates intergenerational occupational mobility using a novel genealogical dataset for settler South Africa, spanning its transition from an agricultural to an early industrialised society (1800‐1909). We identify fathers and sons for whom we have complete information on occupational attainment. We follow a two‐generation discrete approach to measure changes in both absolute and relative mobility over time. Consistent with qualitative evidence of a shift away from agriculture as the economy's dominant sector, we see the farming class shrinking and the skilled and professional classes growing. Controlling for changes in the structure of the labour market over time, we find increasing mobility, becoming significant after the discovery of minerals in 1868. We find this mobility particularly for semi‐skilled workers but virtually no improved mobility for sons of farmers. We also test hypotheses related to the mobility prospects for first‐born sons and sons of immigrants.

Trade liberalization and intergenerational occupational mobility in urban India

We exploit highly disaggregated occupation data to examine the impact of trade liberalization on intergenerational occupational mobility in urban India. We find that sons that live in urban Indian districts with a greater exposure to trade liberalization have a higher probability of being in a better occupation than their father. Taken together, our results allow us to make two new contributions to the literature on trade and inequality. First, we show that the same mechanism that causes greater cross-sectional inequality, higher relative demand for skill, also facilitates intergenerational occupational mobility. Second, we show that increased investment in education alone need not facilitate intergenerational occupational mobility. Instead, it only does so in urban districts where there has been a sufficient increase in the employment share of high-skill occupations.

Statistical challenges in modelling the health consequences of social mobility: the need for diagonal reference models

ObjectivesVarious studies on the health consequences of socio-economic position address social mobility. They aim to uncover whether health outcomes are affected by: (1) social mobility, besides, (2) social origin, and (3) social destination. Conventional methods do not, however, estimate these three effects separately, which may produce invalid conclusions. We highlight that diagonal reference models (DRMs) overcome this problem, which we illustrate by focusing on overweight/obesity (OWOB).MethodsUsing conventional methods (logistic-regression analyses with dummy variables) and DRMs, we examine the effects of intergenerational educational mobility on OWOB (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) using survey data representative of the Dutch population aged 18–45 (1569 males, 1771 females).ResultsConventional methods suggest that mobility effects on OWOB are present. Analyses with DRMs, however, indicate that no such effects exist.ConclusionsConventional analyses of the health consequences of social mobility may produce invalid results. We, therefore, recommend the use of DRMs. DRMs also validly estimate the health consequences of other types of social mobility (e.g. intra- and intergenerational occupational and income mobility) and status inconsistency (e.g. in educational or occupational attainment between partners).

Is London Really the Engine-Room? Migration, Opportunity Hoarding and Regional Social Mobility in the UK

In this paper we explore for the first time regional differences in the patterning of occupational social mobility in the UK. Drawing on data from Understanding Society (US), supported by the Labour Force Survey (LFS), we examine how rates of absolute and relative intergenerational occupational mobility vary across 19 regions of England, Scotland and Wales. Our findings somewhat problematise the dominant policy narrative on regional social mobility, which presents London as the national ‘engine-room’ of social mobility. In contrast, we find that those currently living in Inner London have experienced the lowest regional rate of absolute upward mobility, the highest regional rate of downward mobility, and a comparatively low rate of relative upward mobility into professional and managerial occupations. This stands in stark contrast to Merseyside and particularly Tyne and Wear where rates of both absolute and relative upward mobility are high, and downward mobility is low. We then examine this Inner London effect further, finding that it is driven in part by two dimensions of migration. First, among international migrants, we find strikingly low rates of upward mobility and high rates of downward mobility. Second, among domestic migrants, we find a striking overrepresentation of those from professional and managerial backgrounds. These privileged domestic migrants, our results indicate, are less likely to experience downward mobility than those from similar backgrounds elsewhere in the country. This may be partly explained by higher educational qualifications, but may also be indicative of a glass floor or opportunity hoarding.

Intergenerational Occupational Mobility and Labor Productivity

The paper documents that intergenerational occupational persistence is signicantly higher in poor countries even after controlling for dierences in occupational structure. The higher occupational persistence is symptomatic of underlying talent misallocation in which sons choose their fathers’ occupations instead of the occupation of their comparative advantage. A version of Roy (1951) model of occupational choice is developed in which nancial frictions restrict optimal occupational choice. The mechanism generates a 25 factor drop in productivity for an economy with no credit markets relative to an economy with perfect credit markets.