Following (Not Quite) in Your Father's Footsteps: Task Followers and Labor Market Outcomes

32 Pages Posted: 9 Jan 2017

See all articles by Liwen Chen

Liwen Chen

University of South Carolina

John Gordanier

University of South Carolina

Orgul D. Ozturk

University of South Carolina - Moore School of Business - Department of Economics

Date Written: January 6, 2017

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which children enter into occupations that are different from their father’s occupation, but require similar skills, which we call task following. We also consider the possibility that fathers are able to transfer task specific human capital either through investments or genetic endowments to their children. We show that there is indeed substantial task following, beyond occupational following and that task following is associated with a wage premium of around 5% over otherwise identical workers employed in a job with the same primary task. The wage premium is robust to controls for industry, occupation categories and occupation characteristics. The premium is largest for followers in non-routine cognitive jobs and college graduates.

Keywords: Intergenerational transmission, Task measures, Occupation choice

JEL Classification: J24, J31

Suggested Citation

Chen, Liwen and Gordanier, John and Ozturk, Orgul D., Following (Not Quite) in Your Father's Footsteps: Task Followers and Labor Market Outcomes (January 6, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2894978 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2894978

Liwen Chen

University of South Carolina ( email )

701 Main Street
Columbia, SC 29208
United States

John Gordanier

University of South Carolina ( email )

701 Main Street
Columbia, SC 29208
United States

Orgul D. Ozturk (Contact Author)

University of South Carolina - Moore School of Business - Department of Economics ( email )

The Francis M. Hipp Building
1705 College Street
Columbia, SC 29208
United States

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