ABSTRACT
Numerous studies concerning public attitudes toward government employment and employees have been undertaken beginning with Lord Bryce's impressionistic work in 1888 and ending with the Brookings Institution's impressive two-volume study, The Federal Image, published in 1964. Women compare government employment with private business more favorably than do men. High school students are more favorably inclined toward government employees and employment than are college students. The White study not only found that the prestige of government employment decreases as age increases but, even more striking, that the decline in prestige is particularly marked between the 15–19 and 20–24 age groupings. Moreover, the greater the family income, the greater the chance that the income had come from outside the governmental field of employment. The finding of the relationship between government employment and children's attitude toward the public service warrants further exploration.
