Occupational prestige and the 1980 U.S. labor force

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Abstract

Between 1970 and 1980, there was a large increase in the proportion of female workers, a modest decline in occupational sex segregation, and radical changes in the sex composition of particular occupations. In this paper, we investigate whether or not these changes have been accompanied by changes in the occupational prestige characteristics of male vis-à-vis female workers in the U.S. labor force. Because the U.S. census bureau changed its occupational coding scheme between 1970 and 1980, we first reconcile the occupational prestige measures available for 1970 occupational codes with 1980 occupational codes. The results show that occupations dominated by women largely remain confined to the lower two-thirds of the occupational prestige hierarchy. However, because of the tendency of women to be employed in the more prestigious of the female-dominated occupations and men to be employed in the less prestigious of the male-dominated occupations, the prestige characteristics of men and women in the 1980 labor force are almost equivalent.

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