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September 2003, Vol. 126, No. 9
An examination of occupational mobility among full-time workers
Paul E. Gabriel
There is extensive literature on the
processes that influence the occupational
choices of workers.1
However, less attention is devoted to examining the rate at which workers move
from one occupation to another. Fortunately, the availability of panel data sets
makes it possible to measure the extent that workers shift jobs within the
occupational distribution over time. This study explores recent trends in
occupational mobility among full-time wage and salary workers in the United
States as they move from young labor market entrants to their approach to
mid-career. Our objective is to determine if their occupational mobility rates
changed over time, and then to compare occupational mobility rates by gender.
The results of our analysis can provide an additional perspective on the recent increase in wage disparities between high- and low-income workers, an increase that has been well documented.2 In terms of equity, the recent increase in earnings inequality is generally viewed with concern among policymakers. However, several studies have suggested that an increase in labor-market mobility may actually counterbalance the growth in earnings inequality.3 This argument asserts that flexible labor markets provide ample opportunity for upward (and downward) mobility. Consequently, if an increase in the propensity of low-wage workers moves into higher-paying occupations, lifetime earnings inequality may be reduced in spite of increases in annual cross-sectional measures of labor-market inequality.
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Footnotes
1
Peter J. Schmidt and Robert P. Strauss, "The Prediction of Occupation
using Multiple Logit Models," International Economic Review, June
1975, pp. 471�; Randall S. Brown, Marilyn Moon, and Barbara Zoloth,
"Occupational Attainment and Segregation by Sex," Industrial and
Labor Relations Review, July 1980, pp. 506�; Paul E. Gabriel, Donald R.
Williams, and Susanne Schmitz, "The Relative Occupational Attainment of
Young Blacks, Whites, and Hispanics," Southern Economic Journal,
Vol. 57, No. 1, 1990, pp. 35�.
2 Maury Gittleman and Mary Joyce, "Earnings Mobility in the United States, 1967�," Monthly Labor Review, September 1995, pp. 3�; "A Brief Look at Postwar U.S. Income Inequality," Current Population Reports (U.S. Census Bureau, 1996), pp. 60�1; Peter Gottschalk, "Inequality, Income Growth, and Mobility: The Basic Facts," Journal of Economic Perspective, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1997, pp. 21�; Peter Gottschalk and Timothy M. Smeeding, "Cross-National Comparisons of Earnings and Income Inequality," Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 35, 1997, pp. 633�; Richard Dickens, "Caught in a Trap? Wage Mobility in Great Britain: 1975�94," Economica, Vol. 67, November 2000, pp. 477�.
3 Bradley R. Schiller, "Relative Earnings Redux: Youth Mobility in the 1980s," Review of Income and Wealth, Vol. 40, No. 4, December 1994, pp. 441�; P.J. Sloane and I. Theodossiou, "Earnings Mobility, Family Income, and Low Pay," The Economic Journal, Vol. 106, 1996, pp. 657�; Stephen Rose, "Is Mobility in the United States Still Alive? Tracking Career Opportunities and Income Growth," International Review of Applied Economics, Vol. 13, No. 3, 1999, pp. 417�.
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