Promotion Structures of Managers and Professional-Technical Workers

Abstract

The literature on job ladders & firm internal labor markets informs two hypotheses regarding the promotion chances of managers & of professional-technical workers: (1) the promotion chances of managers increase with job power, particularly sanctioning authority; & (2) the promotion chances of professionals increase with autonomy & employment in professional services industries. Data are drawn from the 1980 Class Structure & Class Consciousness Study & include workers employed by someone else in a paid job. The first hypothesis receives support, while the second receives mixed support. There are no interactions of the power or autonomy variables with gender.