Daily Talker: Do Jobs Run In The Family?

Do jobs run in the family? Do children follow in their parents' footsteps and career paths? Facebook wanted to find out. Data scientists at Facebook looked at 5.6 million parent-child pairs on the social networking site. Now remember, not everyone includes family relationships or professions in their profile.

Some of their findings included sons who have fathers who work in farming, fishing or forestry are 7.6 times more likely to follow in their footsteps. Daughters are 3.75 times more likely to be nurses if their mother is a nurse. Analysts found although a parent's career path may make us more likely to do the same job compared to other people, it's just an influence. They say most people don't directly follow in mom and dad's footsteps professionally. Members of Facebook's Core Data Science team say, "15% of siblings share an occupation." And "twins' tendency to choose the same occupation is 24.7%"

The team says, "Parents pass on their genes, set an example, provide opportunities, and give advice to either aim for or steer clear of their own lines of work."

What do you think? Are children more likely to follow in their parents' career path? Did you follow in your parents' footsteps? Are your children following you?

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