Full Citation
Title: Jewish Occupational Attainment in the Antebellum USA: Filling a Gap in the Literature
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2025
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI: 10.1017/ssh.2025.19
NSFID:
PMCID:
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Abstract: This article is concerned with analyzing the occupational attainment of American Jewish men compared to other free men in the mid-19th century to help fill a gap in the literature on Jewish achievement. It does this by using the full count (100 percent) microdata file from the 1850 Census of Population, the first census to ask about the occupation of free men. Independent lists of surnames are used to identify men with a higher probability of being Jewish. These men were more likely than others to be managers, salesmen, and craft workers, and were less likely to be farmers and laborers. The Jewish men have a higher occupational income score on average. In the multiple regression analysis, it is found that among Jewish and other free men, occupational income scores increase with age (up to about age 43 for all men), literacy, being married, having fewer children, being native-born, living in the South, and living in an urban area. Even after controlling for these variables that impact the occupational income score, Jews have a significantly higher score, which is equivalent to about the size of the positive effect of being married. Similar patterns are found using the Duncan Socioeconomic Index. This higher occupational status is consistent with patterns found elsewhere for American Jews in the eighteenth century and throughout the twentieth century.
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Authors: Chiswick, Barry; Robinson, RaeAnn
Periodical (Full): Social Science History
Issue:
Volume: 49
Pages: 670-696
Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS USA - Ancestry Full Count Data
Topics: Housing and Segregation, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity
Countries: