Occupational Prestige in South Korea: Stability and Variations

This study examined stability and variations in occupational prestige in South Korea. We investigated both the differentiation and incorporation processes of occupational prestige evaluation using the Korean Social Stratification Survey 2022 and obtained several findings. First, prestige rank correlations for the 15 common occupations obtained from five surveys conducted between 1990 and 2021 were extremely high, showing strong stability in occupational prestige ranks. Second, prestige score rating differed by individuals’ socioeconomic status (SES) and social network. High-SES people tend to rate occupational prestige higher than low-SES individuals but this differential disappeared after controlling for other factors, and people evaluated an occupation more highly if they knew a person in that occupation personally. Third, the effects of SES and social network on prestige score evaluation depended on occupational prestige ranks. While the difference in prestige ratings between college graduates and non-college graduates was greater for high-ranked occupations than low-ranked ones, the positive effect of having a friend in an occupation on prestige rating was greater for low-ranked occupations than high-ranked ones, suggesting that social network had a buffering effect on occupational prestige evaluation. This study showed that occupational prestige in South Korea was characterized by both between-group variations and temporal stability.