Occupational status
Summary prepared by Sarah Burgard and Judith Stewart in
collaboration with Joseph Schwartz. Last revised July, 2003.
Chapter Contents:
a. Background
b. Measurement approaches
c. References
Background
Occupational status is one component of socioeconomic
status (SES), summarizing the power, income and
educational requirements associated with various positions
in the occupational structure. Occupational status has
several advantages over the other major indicators of SES,
which are most commonly educational attainment and
personal or family income. First, occupational status reflects
the outcome of educational attainment, provides information
about the skills and credentials required to obtain a job, and
the associated monetary and other rewards. For example,
professionals are differentiated from manual workers by
selection on educational attainment that influences patterns
of remuneration. Occupational status is also likely to be a
better indicator of income over the long term than is income
information collected at any single point in time, because in
the short-term, income can be quite volatile (Williams and
Collins 1995). Finally, occupational status is a promising
measure of social position that can provide information about
job characteristics, such as environmental and working
conditions, decision-making latitude, and psychological
demands of the job.
Occupational status is hypothesized to be related to health
because (1) it positions individuals within the social
structure, which defines access to resources and constraints
that can have implications for health and mortality (Mare
1990; Moore and Hayward 1990), and (2) each particular job
has its own set of demands and rewards that can influence
health, such as physically hazardous or psychologically
stressful working conditions (House et al. 1980; Karasek et
al. 1981), as well as effects of the job on lifestyle factors
including drinking, smoking, and obesity (Sorenson et al.
1985; House et al. 1