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Occupational Choice-Personality Matters

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Occupational Choice-Personality Matters
DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES

IZA DP No. 4105

Occupational Choice: Personality Matters
Roger Ham P.N. (Raja) Junankar Robert Wells April 2009

Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit Institute for the Study of Labor

Occupational Choice: Personality Matters
Roger Ham
University of Western Sydney

P.N. (Raja) Junankar
University of Western Sydney and IZA

Robert Wells
University of Western Sydney

Discussion Paper No. 4105 April 2009

IZA P.O. Box 7240 53072 Bonn Germany Phone: +49-228-3894-0 Fax: +49-228-3894-180 E-mail: iza@iza.org

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 4105 April 2009

ABSTRACT Occupational Choice: Personality Matters
In modern societies, people are often classified as “White Collar” or “Blue Collar” workers: that classification not only informs social scientists about the kind of work that they do, but

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