American workers’ occupational status strongly reflects the status of their parents. Men and women who grew up in a two-earner or father-breadwinner family achieved occupations that rose 0.5 point for every one-point increase in their parents’ statuses (less if their father was absent). Gender differences were small in two-earner families and mother-only families, but men’s status persisted more when the father was the sole breadwinner. Intergenerational persistence did not change in the time the data cover (1994–2016). Absolute mobility declined for recent birth cohorts; barely half the men and women born in the 1980s were upwardly mobile compared with two-thirds of those born in the 1940s. The results as described hold for a socioeconomic index (SEI) that scores occupation according to the average pay and credentials of people in the occupation. Most results were the same when occupations were coded by different criteria, but SEI produced the smallest gender differences.

美国工人的职业地位强烈反映了其父母的地位。在拥有两个收入或父亲养家糊口的家庭中长大的男女，其职业每增加1个百分点，其职业就会增加0.5个百分点（即使没有父亲，也是如此）。在有两个收入的家庭和只有母亲的家庭中，性别差异很小，但是当父亲是唯一的养家糊口者时，男人的地位就更加坚挺。在数据覆盖的时间（1994-2016年）中，代际持久性没有改变。最近出生的人群的绝对流动性下降；1980年代出生的男女中几乎只有一半向上流动，而1940年代出生的男女中只有三分之二。所描述的结果适用于一种社会经济指数（SEI），该指数根据职业的平均薪资和资历对职业进行评分。