THE SKILLS AND ECONOMIC-STATUS OF AMERICAN JEWRY - TRENDS OVER THE LAST HALF-CENTURY

The General Social Surveys Cumulative Data File is used to analyze the schooling, occupational status, and earnings of American Jews. Jews a re identified by a question on religion at age 16. The analysis focuse s on trends within the survey period and intergenerational changes fro m the father to the respondent. Ceteris paribus, Jews have significant ly higher levels of schooling, occupational status, and earnings than other whites, and within the survey period there is no trend in the di fferential. The Jewish fathers also had higher levels of achievement t han other fathers, but the differentials increased from the father's t o the respondent's generation.