The Job-Profession Continuum

Abstract

Professions, occupations, and jobs are classified on the basis of particular attributes of each category, rather than by the usual labelling process adopted from popular usage. The theoretical criterion is the location of decisions concerning the allocation of work activities, i.e., whether within the local work organization or externally controlled. The degree of local determination functions inversely with a general consensus as to the level of skill and amount of knowledge required to perform the work. Ten varieties are selected to measure the degree of consensus on task determination of a sample of 86 occupations. Gamma and chi square scores are used to measure association between the variates and preliminary Guttman and numerical scales are constructed to demonstrate the job-profession continuum. Modal characteristics of profession, occupations, and jobs are derived.