Job Values in the Young Adult Transition: Change and Stability with Age

Using data from a nationally representative panel study, I examine change and stability in job values across the young adult years. I find that on average, young people attach lessening importance to various job rewards during the transition to adulthood. In addition, job values become increasingly stable (individual differences are increasingly maintained) during young adulthood, though they continue to change as a function of the rewards received at work. I find no gender differences in the way job rewards shape values, although gender differences in job values exist.