ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the effects of a Catholic upbringing on earnings by men and women and occupational status. It examines the effects of a Catholic heritage on market work by women. There has been much ado about whether Catholics earn more or less than other religious groups. The data on men’s earnings by religious upbringing indicate that Catholic and Protestant earnings are about the same for all men and married men. The data on women’s earnings by religious upbringing show that Catholic women earn more than Protestant women. Andrew Greeley has argued that Catholics do well relative to most Protestant denominations. One of the issues in estimating the effect of a Catholic background on earnings or income is in how the Catholic population is measured. The bottom line is that the Catholic advantage in men’s earnings depends upon how the Protestant population is measured. The prestige scores for Catholic men are lower than the scores for other Protestants.
