Firemen, Doctors Scientists, Nurses and Teachers Top List as "Most Prestigious Occupations," According to Latest Harris Poll

Firemen, doctors, scientists, nurses and teachers are all seen as prestigious occupations by U.S. adults while union leaders, journalists, accountants, real estate agents and stockbrokers are all seen at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to having prestigious occupations.

Four occupations are perceived to have "very great" prestige by at least half of all adults - firemen (56%), scientists (56%), doctors (54%), and nurses (50%). They are followed by three professions which are perceived to have "very great" prestige by 40 percent or more but less than 50 percent – military officers (49%), teachers (47%), and police officers (40%).

By way of contrast, the list includes 10 occupations which are perceived by less than 20 percent of adults to have "very great" prestige, with two of these under 10 percent. The lowest ratings go to stockbrokers (8%), real estate brokers (9%), accountants (13%), journalists (14%), union leaders (15%), bankers (15%), business executives (15%), actors (16%), entertainers (18%) and lawyers (18%).

These are some of the results of the annual Harris Poll measuring public perceptions of 22 professions and occupations, conducted by telephone between August 9 and 16, 2005, by Harris Interactive^® among a nationwide sample of 1,217 U.S. adults.

One conclusion that can be drawn from this survey is that prestigious occupations are all about helping those in need, as firemen, doctors and nurses are at or near the top of the list. Making money does not equal prestige as business executives and stockbrokers, two occupations usually associated with wealth, are both in the bottom half of the list.

Prestige is also not about fame. Entertainers and actors, two professions usually associated with being famous, are also in the bottom half of the list, as are athletes. People may know and follow individual actors, actresses and musicians, but many do not call what they do very prestigious.

Harris Interactive has been asking about the prestige of different professions and occupations since 1977. Over the 28 years since then, there have been some substantial changes:

• Those who see teachers as having "very great" prestige have risen 18 points from 29 to 47 percent.
• Those who think lawyers have "very great" prestige have fallen 18 points, from 36 to 18 percent.
• Scientists have fallen 10 points from 66 to 56 percent.
• Doctors have fallen seven points from 61 to 54 percent.
• Priests, ministers and clergymen have fallen five points from 41 to 36 percent.
• Business executives have fallen three points from 18 to 15 percent.
• Athletes have also fallen three points from 26 to 23 percent.

Teachers are the only occupation to see a rise in prestige since 1977.

Most of the changes in those saying a particular occupation has "very great" prestige since last year are relatively small and within the sampling error for this survey. There are some, however, that stand out:

• Firemen have risen eight points from 48 to 56 percent.
• Architects have risen seven points from 20 to 27 percent.
• Nurses have risen six points from 44 to 50 percent.
• Members of Congress have fallen five points and are the largest decliner from 31 to 26 percent.

"I am going to read off a number of different occupations. For each, would you tell me if you feel it is an occupation of very great prestige, considerable prestige, some prestige or hardly any prestige at all?"

Base: All Adults

"I am going to read off a number of different occupations. For each, would you tell me if you feel it is an occupation of very great prestige, considerable prestige, some prestige or hardly any prestige at all?"

Base: All Adults

________________

* No trend; NA not asked

** In surveys prior to 2001 we used the words "policeman" (now changed to "police officer") and businessman (now changed to "business executive") which may account for the changes from 2001 to 2002.

The Harris Poll^® was conducted by telephone within the United States between August 9 and 16, 2005 among a nationwide cross section of 1,217 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, number of adults, number of voice/telephone lines in the household, region and size of place were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.

In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the overall results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample is not a probability sample.

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