ABSTRACT
Fertility differences by occupational grouping have a long history, especially in industrialised societies. In Australia, the major fertility differences by husband’s occupation have been those between the generality of clerical workers and all the rest — with farmers and graziers having the highest fertility of all. The present analysis employs seven occupational categories, as follows: professional, technical and related, administrative, executive and managerial, clerical and sales, farmers, graziers, fishermen and forestry workers, transport and communication workers, tradesmen, production process workers and labourers, and Others (including miners, service workers, sports and recreation workers, unemployed, not in the labour force, and not stated). Standardised by schooling and age at marriage, the pattern of fertility differences among occupations was much as that observed without reference to schooling. However, among the Australian-born the pattern is less straightforward, primarily because of the tack taken by Catholics.
