Koreans, Americans differ on prestigious jobs: lawmakers vs. firefighters

Individuals from South Korea, China, and Japan perceive lawmakers as holding the highest societal status job, whereas those from the United States and Germany consider firefighters to have the highest social status, according to survey results released Sunday.

The Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training conducted the survey from July to August 2023. The survey involved 7,500 employed individuals aged between 18 to 64 across five different countries: South Korea, China, Germany, Japan and the US.

Researchers identified 15 occupations spanning diverse sectors and requested respondents to evaluate the societal status of each profession using a five-point scale, ranging from "very low" to "very high."

The 15 jobs included lawmaker, pharmacist, middle and high school teacher, small business executive, mechanical engineer, software developer, bank teller, factory worker, restaurant employee, construction day laborer, social worker, firefighter, artificial intelligence expert, movie director and digital content creator.

According to KRIVET, the perception of prestige associated with specific occupations also varies depending on the nationalities of the survey respondents.

Korean nationals assigned the highest occupational prestige, scoring 4.16 points, to lawmakers, followed by pharmacists and artificial intelligence experts, respectively marking 3.83 and 3.67 points. In contrast, factory workers, restaurant employees, and construction day laborers were ranked the lowest, ranging between 1.86 to 2.19 points.

Japanese and Chinese respondents also answered that lawmakers held the highest occupational prestige, with 3.59 points and 4.22 points respectively, followed by pharmacists in Japan and movie directors in China.

Unlike the three Asian countries, respondents from Germany and the US answered that firefighters held the highest occupational prestige, followed by software developers. In Korea, firefighters were ranked 11th in their level of prestige. Lawmakers were ranked 12th in the US and 10th in Germany.

The findings of the report entitled "Study on Occupational Consciousness and Vocational Ethics" showcased significant disparities in scores between the occupations held in the most and least esteem in South Korea.

For instance, the gap between the highest-ranked lawmakers and the lowest-ranked construction day laborers reached 2.30 points. In contrast, countries like Japan and the US exhibited narrower discrepancies, with differences of 0.92 and 0.93 points, respectively, between the highest and lowest-ranked professions.

The report highlighted that "while the disparity in occupational prestige is minimal in the United States, Japan and Germany, it is moderate in China, and notably pronounced in South Korea."

The outcome suggested a "comparatively robust sense of occupational superiority prevailing in Korean society compared to other countries."

Meanwhile, when asked about what the respondents think their level of occupational prestige is, the respondents from the US had the highest score at 3.37, followed by Germany at 3.31, China at 3.08, Korea at 2.79 and Japan at 2.68.

“The following data reflects the low self-esteem Koreans and Japanese people have regarding their jobs,” said the report.