Firefighters, Scientists And Teachers Top List As "Most Prestigious Occupations," According To Latest Harris Poll

Firefighters, scientists and teachers are seen as the most prestigious occupations by U.S. adults, while bankers, actors and real estate agents are the least prestigious occupations.

These are some of the results of the annual Harris Poll measuring public perceptions of 23 professions and occupations, conducted by telephone between July 10 and 16, 2007, by Harris Interactive^® among a nationwide sample of 1,010 U.S. adults. However, only about half of these adults were asked about each occupation.

Six occupations are perceived to have "very great" prestige by at least half of all adults - firefighters (61%), scientists (54%), teachers (54%), doctors (52%), military officers (52%), and nurses (50%). They are followed by police officers (46%) priests/ministers/clergy (42%) and farmers (41%).

By way of contrast, the list includes ten 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 for "very great prestige" go to real estate brokers (5%), actors (9%), bankers (10%), accountants (11%), entertainers (12%), stockbrokers (12%), union leaders (13%), journalists (13%), business executives (14%), and athletes (16%).

In the bottom ten, two broad categories are represented. Four occupations come from the media, sports and entertainment category – actors, entertainers, journalists and athletes. An additional four occupations come from the business world –bankers, accountants, stockbrokers, and business executives.

There are five occupations that are perceived by one-quarter or more of adults to have "hardly any prestige at all." These include stockbrokers (25%), union leaders (30%), entertainers (31%), real estate brokers (34%) and actors (38%).

Harris Interactive has been asking about the prestige of different professions and occupations since 1977. Over the 30 years since then, there have been some interesting changes:

• Those who see teachers as having "very great" prestige has risen 25 points from 29 to 54 percent;
• Those who say lawyers have "very great" prestige has fallen 14 points, from 36 to 22 percent;
• Scientists have fallen 12 points from 66 to 54 percent;
• Athletes have fallen ten points from 26 to 16 percent;
• Doctors have fallen nine points from 61 to 52 percent;
• Bankers have fallen seven points from 17 to 10 percent;
• Entertainers have fallen six points from 18 percent to 12 percent.

Teachers are the only occupation, among the 11 tracked since 1977, to see a large rise in prestige; priests/ministers/clergy have seen a one point rise since 1977.

• Those who say farmers have "very great prestige" has risen five points from 36 to 41 percent;
• Bankers have fallen seven points from 17 to 10 percent, as have athletes from 23 to 16 percent;
• Three occupations have fallen six points in those saying they have "very great prestige" – doctors (from 58% to 52%); entertainers (from 18% to 12%); and accountants (17% to 11%).

One thing to notice is that while Americans have become celebrity obsessed, with gossip magazines and websites as must reads, they do not hold these celebrities in high regard. Actors and entertainers occupy two of the bottom five positions in the list of prestigious occupations showing that while people may enjoy reading about them, they do not regard these occupations as prestigious.

"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 Response

*Less Than 0.5%

"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.

***In surveys prior to 2006, we used the word "fireman" (now changed to firefighter) which may account for some of the changes from 2005 to 2006.

****In surveys prior to 2007, we used the word "clergyman" now changed to clergy which many account for some of the changes from 2006 to 2007.

"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

Note: N/A indicates occupation wasn’t asked about in 1977

The Harris Poll^® was conducted by telephone within the United States between July 10 and 16, 2007 among a nationwide cross section of 1,010 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. However, only approximately 500 people were asked about each occupation.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

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