INFORMAL WORK AND OCCUPATIONAL STRUCTURE BLURRING

Abstract

How does the growth of informal work reshape the long-standing organization of labor markets and social hierarchies? Using Hughes's distinction between the functional and moral aspects of occupational differentiation, this article explores whether the rise of "multiple jobholding"—where workers engage in multiple occupations simultaneously—undermines the occupational structure that separates jobs both hierarchically and horizontally. The study combines data from six waves of the Survey of Informal Work Participation (2015-2020) with occupational data from the American Community Survey and O*NET to illustrate how 95 different occupations interact with 15 types of informal work. It distinguishes between two levels of involvement: incidence (whether occupations engage in specific gigs) and intensity (the amount of time dedicated to such work). While initial participation seems generally accessible across various occupations, patterns of ongoing engagement highlight that hierarchical and functional distinctions remain influential. Furthermore, dyadic additive–multiplicative effects models show that the clarity of these distinctions varies systematically along the occupational hierarchy. Status hierarchies become most rigid at the top. Conversely, functional differentiations follow a curvilinear pattern—being most blurred among middle-status occupations but remaining clearer at both ends of the hierarchy. These results imply that rather than flattening occupational differences, the gig economy might reinforce existing stratification through new mechanisms. The analysis adds to theories of intragenerational mobility by showing that the clarity of occupational distinctions operates as a structural feature, independently of individual moves across jobs.