Changes in the Relative Status Level of Workers in the United States, 1950-60

Analysis of socioeconomic scores of persons classified by detailed occupation in 1950 and 1960 shows general stability of occupational status over the decade but significantly-changing status for a minority of occupations. The latter are examined in terms of changing numbers of occupants and changing median age, as well as relative increases or decreases in average education and income of occupants. Slight declines in scores for persons in a high proportion of occupations is interpreted as a function of the shifting occupational distribution which makes positions in higher status occupations more common and those in lower status occupations even less privileged as time goes on.