The U.S. Occupational Structure: A Social Network Approach

Abstract

We propose a new approach to study the structure of occupational labor markets that relies on social network analysis techniques. Highly detailed transition matrices are constructed based on changes in individual workers' occupations over successive months of the Current Population Survey rotating panels. The resulting short-term transition matrices provide snapshots of all occupational movements in the U.S. labor market at different points in time and for different sociodemographic groups. We find a significant increase in occupational mobility and in the diversity of occupational destinations for working men over the past two decades. The occupational networks for black and Hispanic men exhibit a high overall density of ties resulting from a high probability of movement among a limited set of occupations. Upward status mobility also increased during the time period studied, although there are large differences by race and ethnicity and educational attainment. Finally, factional analysis is proposed as a novel way to explore labor market segmentation. Results reveal a highly segmented occupational network in which movement is concentrated within a limited number of occupations with markedly different levels of occupational status.

The Association of a Geographically Wide Social Media Network on Depression: County-Level Ecological Analysis

“…Occupation is associated with depression through job-related psychosocial stressors and socioeconomic status [33][34][35], and occupation-related travel expands the geographic reach of occupational and social networks [36][37][38]. Therefore, we incorporated information from the American Community Survey occupation by industry tables into our analysis.…”

Workers’ mobility across occupations: Complementary insights from the human capital, migration and social stratification literature.

“…However, the transfer of human capital is not the same among all occupations, which explains the significant heterogeneity in worker flows from one occupation to another (Harper, 1995; Poletaev & Robinson, 2008; Villarreal, 2020). In this sense, it has been shown that people tend to migrate between occupations requiring similar skills and performing similar tasks (Cortes & Gallipoli, 2018; Fedorets, 2019; Parrado et al.…”

“…The possible loss of human capital makes on-the-job seekers (Deng, Li, & Shi, 2022) and workers with solid occupational commitment (Otto, Dette-Hagenmeyer, & Dalbert, 2010) less willing to change occupations. However, the transfer of human capital is not the same among all occupations, which explains the significant heterogeneity in worker flows from one occupation to another (Harper, 1995;Poletaev & Robinson, 2008;Villarreal, 2020). In this sense, it has been shown that people tend to migrate between occupations requiring similar skills and performing similar tasks (Cortes & Gallipoli, 2018;Fedorets, 2019;Parrado et al, 2007;Poletaev & Robinson, 2008;Robinson, 2017), mitigating the possible loss of specific human capital and, therefore, wage loss (Bachmann et al, 2020;Gathmann & Sch€ onberg, 2010;Poletaev & Robinson, 2008;Robinson, 2017).…”

Differences in occupational homogamy by race, ethnicity, and national origin: A social mobility strategy for Asian Americans

“…Having similar cultural resources, such as tastes, knowledge bases, political attitudes, and worldviews, makes it easier for spouses to have conversations, offer each other social confirmation, partake in joint activities, and reduce potential conflict in family decision-making (Kalmijn 1994(Kalmijn , 1998Schwartz 2013;Streib 2015). Due to increasing occupational segregation by socioeconomic status and growing wage inequalities across occupations, occupations are increasingly linked to attitudes, tastes, lifestyles, and life trajectories (Cambois et al 2011;Rivera 2012;Villarreal 2020;Weeden and Grusky 2005).…”