What methodology was used to create the career ladder?
Data for over 350,000 workers was analyzed over a six-year period, 2001 through 2006. Each worker’s occupation was compared to the subsequent quarter and for each instance when the worker’s occupation changed, the combination of the prior and successive occupation was counted as an occupational transition. If a worker made the same occupation-to-occupation transition more than once, only the first instance was counted. The basic method was to compare movement to and from a pair of occupations. When there was a significant number of transitions from occupation A to occupation B (relative to the total of all transitions to occupation B or the total of all transitions from A to any other occupation); and very little movement in the opposite direction (relative to the total of all transitions to occupation A), the pair of occupations had a high likelihood of a career ladder relationship and was considered for inclusion. Wage estimate data, comparison’s of education and work experience requ
