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PRESGL
Occupational prestige score, Siegel
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Description

PRESGL is a constructed variable that assigns a Siegel prestige score to each occupation using the occupational classification scheme available in OCC1950 variable.

The PRESGL variable is based on the series of surveys conducted at National Opinion Research Center during the 1960s. In all surveys, respondents were asked to evaluate either "general standing" or "social standing" of occupations. In the 1963 NORC survey (a replication of the 1963 North-Hatt study), respondents were asked to rate occupations with a scale of "excellent," "good," "average," "somewhat below average," and "poor." In the 1964 Hodge-Siegel-Rossi survey and the 1965 supplementary surveys, on a cardboard sheet showing a nine-rung ladder of social standing that ranged from "1" being the lowest social standing to "9" being the highest social standing, respondents were asked to sort cards with occupational titles. Using data from these multiple surveys, Siegel transformed occupational prestige rating data into a common metric.

For more information, see P. M. Siegel, "Prestige in the American Occupational Structure," Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1971.

Siegel's original prestige score was based on the 1960 occupational classification scheme, which contained a slightly larger number of categories than the 1950 occupational classification scheme. In the few cases where we had to aggregate 1960 categories to harmonize them with the 1950 scheme, the prestige score was calculated as the weighted average of the 1960 occupational categories (based on the prestige value and number of cases in each 1960 category). There were also two cases where the 1950 scheme had more detail than the 1960 scheme used by Siegel (OCC1950 categories 10-29 and 600-615 were each combined into single 1960 categories). In those cases, we assigned the 1960 prestige score to all of the 1950 categories.

Alternative measures of occupational standing that are based on OCC1950 are available in EDSCOR50, ERSCOR50, NPBOSS50, OCCSCORE, and SEI. For information on the construction of OCC1950 and occupational standing measures, see "Integrated Occupation and Industry Codes and Occupational Standing Variables in the IPUMS."

User Note: There is significant debate about the usefulness of composite measures of occupational standing (in the IPUMS, these variables include SEI, HWSEI, NPBOSS50, and NPBOSS90). We strongly urge researchers to read our user note on this issue and to familiarize themselves with the debates surrounding the use of these variables.