Of the twelve standard occupational groups used by the U. S. Census, six contain the majority of jobs that call for emotional labor, as defined in Chapter Seven. These six groups, summarized in Table 1, are as follows: professional and technical workers, managers and administrators, sales workers, clerical workers, and service workers of two types — those who work inside and those who work outside of private households. In one way or another, probably most sales workers, managers, and administrators are called upon to do some emotion work. But among those in the professions, service work, and clerical work, only selected jobs seem to involve substantial amounts of emotional labor (see Tables 2, 3, and 4). Within these categories are some of the most rapidly growing occupations. According to the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be a 30 percent growth in the 1980s for social workers, 25 percent for preschool teachers, 45 percent for health administrators, 33 percent for sales managers, 79 percent for flight attendants, and 35 percent for food-counter workers. The largest number of new jobs are expected in the retailing sector, especially in department stores and restaurants (New York Times, October 14, 1979, p. 8). Given the roughness of occupational categories, the fit of emotion work criteria to occupation and to labor produced is necessarily loose. The tables presented here are no more than a sketch, a suggestion of a pattern that deserves to be examined more closely.
Table 1 shows the number of jobs in all six occupational categories in 1970. It also shows the number of men and women in these categories. Over all, women are overrepresented in jobs calling for emotional labor; about half of all working women hold such jobs. Men are underrepresented; about a quarter of all working men are in emotional labor jobs. This is true for professional and technical occupations, for clerical occupations, and for service-sector jobs as well.
Table 2 examines fifteen occupations that involve substantial amounts of emotional labor, selected from the twenty-seven different occupations grouped as Professional, Technical, or Kindred by the U. S. Census. It computes the proportion of all professional and technical jobs that involved substantial amounts of emotional labor in 1970, and shows variations by sex. Tables 3 and 4, respectively, perform the same kind of analysis for clerical workers and for service workers outside of private households.
TABLE l. Summary Estimate of Jobs Most Calling for Emotional Labor, 1970
Occupation |
Female |
Male |
Total |
Professional, technical and kindred3 |
3,438,144 |
2,666,188 |
6,104,332 |
Managers and administratorsb |
1,013,843 |
5,125,534 |
6,139,377 |
Sales workersb |
1,999,794 |
3,267,653 |
5,267,447 |
Clerical and kindredc |
4,988,448 |
863,204 |
5,851,652 |
Service workers excluding private householdd |
3,598,190 |
1,367,280 |
4,965,470 |
Private household workersb |
1,053,092 |
39,685 |
1,092,777 |
Total number of jobs calling for emotional labor |
16,091,511 |
13,329,544 |
29,421,055 |
Total size of employed labor force over 14 years of age |
29,170,127 |
48,138,665 |
77,308,792 |
Jobs involving |
55.2% |
27.7% |
38.1% |
substantial emotional labor as a percentage of all jobs |
aSelected occupations; see Table 2. bAII jobs.
cSeIected occupations; see Table 3. ^Selected occupations; see Table 4.
NOTE: Tables 1 to 4 enumerate the number of employed persons, 14 years or older, by occupation, from the 1970 U. S. Census.
source: U. S. Bureau of the Census, i, “Census of the Population: 1970,” Vol. 1, Characteristics of the Population, Part l, United States Summary Section I, Table 221. Detailed Occupation of the Experienced Civilian Labor Force and Employed Persons by Sex (Washington D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1973), pp. 718-724. ‘
TABLE 2. Detailed Occupational Analysis of Selected Professional, Technical, and Kindred Workers, 1970
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TABLE 2. Continued
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TABLE 3. Detailed Occupational Analysis of Selected Clerical and Kindred Workers, 1970
and kindred jobs involving substantial amounts of emotional labor |
TABLE 4. Detailed Occupational Analysis of Selected Service Workers, Except Private Household, 1970
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Occupation |
Female |
Male |
Total |
Total number of persons employed in all service worker occupations except private household |
4,424,030 |
3,640,487 |
8,064,517 |
Percentage of all service sector occupations, except private household, involving substantial amounts of emotional labor |
81.3 |
37.6 |
61.6 |
^Includes dental assistants; health aides, except nursing; health trainees; lay midwives; nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants; practical nurses. ^Includes airline stewardesses, recreation and amusement attendants, personal service attendants not elsewhere classified, baggage porters and bellhops, barbers, boarding and lodging housekeepers, bootblacks. includes marshals and constables, policemen and detectives, sheriffs and bailiffs. |
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