Intergenerational occupational mobility in the late 19th century united states

Focusing on white U.S. men aged 25-34, this paper compares the patterns of intergenerational occupational mobility in a late 19th century sample to those found in the well-known 1962 and 1973 surveys of Occupational Change in a Generation (OCGI and OCGII). While the overall pattern of mobility indicates less upward mobility and greater occupational inheritance among the 19th century men, the differences are small when comparisons are restricted to the nonfarm sector. Results from association models indicate a stronger relationship between origins and destinations in 1962 than in the late 1800s. In contrast, the 1973 OCGII data shows a virtually identical relationship between origins and destinations to that found in our 19th century sample.