When you’re choosing your career, there is a wide array of factors that impact your decision. But one of the biggest factors may be one that previously has been hard to measure: our parents.
The pressure to go into the family business is a theme that has persisted throughout generations, but just how effective is that pressure today?
Your parents’ jobs and you
We’ve all heard the stories. Parents are doing their best to assert their influence over their kids’ careers. Often these stories manifest themselves nowadays in the form of college major choices, as students are coerced into following the same proven paths of success as their parents.
But rarely are any of these stories ever backed up by concrete data, as they usually take the form of anecdotal tales cautioning against career pitfalls. However, the parental legacy in the job market has proven itself to be a potent force.
So, how often do people follow in their parents’ footsteps? It depends on the field.
The dynasties of our workforce
The Review of Economic Studies analyzed data from General Social Surveys, which presents valuable insights into paternal influence. By throwing the data together, they were able to determine the occupations that are most shaped like dynasties.
The top four professions that held the strongest bloodlines were legislators, economists, doctors, and lawyers. These statistics are an important insight worth considering, as med school and law school continue to serve as popular choices for students fresh out of college. This study allows us to see clearer how parental legacy may be factoring into those options.
Legislators unquestionably came out on top as the occupation with the most dynastic bias. If you’re a legislator, you’re 354 times more likely to have a father who’s a legislator than to have a father in another occupation.
The data holds fascinating comparisons as well. For instance, if your father is a legislator, you are 15 times more likely to join his occupation than if your father is a doctor.
Limited insights: Moms don’t count?
In research, is it not time for these types of tables to consider the influence/background of both fathers and mothers?
— Cindy P. Veenstra (@cpveenstra) July 12, 2017
One key criticism of this data is that they only capture the influence of fathers in occupation choice, not mothers. Mothers’ occupations aren’t taken into account at all, making the insights captured by this data incomplete.
This data completely ignores the role of mothers in the workforce. According to the Census Bureau, there are millions of moms in the workforce, and their career influence is being overlooked. Moms work, too, and how their job choices impact those of their kids is yet to be discovered.
Takeaway
Even though moms aren’t being accounted for, the study still provides a valuable insight into the role parents’ jobs play in their kids’ career choices. The political dynasties within our legislative system tell us just how ingrained family is in our politics. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a clearer view of these career dynasties with mothers included in the future.
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