Attitudes Toward Economic Risk and Occupational Choice

This paper examines the effects of attitudes toward economic risk on occupational choice. Workers with a more favourable disposition toward economic risk have a higher probability of being employed in the more prestigious, high-paying Professional and Administrative occupations. Potential biases associated with omitted genetic and family background factors are considered. The marked differential in attitudes toward economic risk between males and females, however, makes only a minor contribution to the considerable occupational segregation on the basis of gender in the contemporary Australian labor market.