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The Occupational Attainment of American Jewish Men in the Mid-19th Century

Author

Listed:
  • Chiswick, Barry R.
  • Robinson, RaeAnn H.

Abstract

This paper is concerned with analyzing the occupational status of American Jewish men compared to other free men in the mid-19th century to help fill a gap in the literature. It does this by using the 1/100 microdata sample from the 1850 Census of Population, the first census to ask occupation. Two independent lists of surnames are used to identify men with a higher probability of being Jewish. The men identified as Jews had a higher probability of being professionals, managers, and craft workers, and were less likely to be in farm occupations or in operative jobs. Using the Duncan Socioeconomic Index (SEI), the Jewish men have a higher SEI overall. In the multiple regression analysis, it is found that among Jewish and other free men occupational status increases with age (up to about age 44 for all men), literacy, being married, being native born, living in the South, and living in an urban area. Controlling for a set of these variables, Jews have a significantly higher SEI, which is the equivalent of about half the size of the effect of being literate. This higher occupational status is consistent with patterns found elsewhere for American Jews throughout the 20th century.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiswick, Barry R. & Robinson, RaeAnn H., 2023. "The Occupational Attainment of American Jewish Men in the Mid-19th Century," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1256, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1256
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chiswick, Barry R. & Robinson, RaeAnn H., 2022. "The Occupations of Free Women and Substitution with Enslaved Workers in the Antebellum United States," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1063, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Wanamaker, Marianne H., 2014. "Fertility and the Price of Children: Evidence from Slavery and Slave Emancipation," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 74(4), pages 1045-1071, December.
    4. Joseph P. Ferrie, 1999. "Yankeys Now: Immigrants in the Antebellum US 1840-1860," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number ferr99-1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Jews; Occupational Status; Duncan Socioeconomic Index; 1850 Census of Population; Antebellum America; Labor Market Analysis; Human Capital;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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