Abstract

In this study, job structure is assessed in terms of workers' occupational status and mobility. Job quality is accounted for in this process on the basis of workers' perceptions of their skill requirements and job security, and on the basis of their level of intrinsic interest. The findings indicate that respondents perceive their skill requirements and job security in ways that do not necessarily correspond with their occupational status or mobility. They also indicate no strong correlation between respondents' occupational status or mobility and their intrinsic interest. Given these findings, the issue is that one cannot evaluate jobs on a variety of dimensions and assume that these measure desirability. These measures do not insure that the workers view them in the same terms. Job quality may be more a matter of what the individual takes as the most desirable from among a range of often limited alternatives