Occupational homogamy in eight countries of the European Union, 1975-89

Using data from the Eurobarometers, the association between the occupations of spouses is studied for eight EU countries at several points in time. Mo st of the association is due to a tendency towards occupational similarity between the spouses, The strength of this tendency differs somewhat between countries and decreases by about 16 per cent between 1975 and 1989, indica ting that the social structure of the countries has become more open in thi s period. By comparing the changes in occupational homogamy of successive b irth cohorts over time, we find that when the spouses belonging to a certai n birth cohort grow older, their degree of occupational similarity decrease s, This suggests that even within existing marriages spouses tend to become less alike between 1975 and 1989.