Paper Title
Convergence of The Occupational Structure and Prestige Rankings in East Asia

Abstract
I investigate the level of socio-economic development in three East Asian societies by comparatively examining the structures of industry and occupation. Peoples' preference for occupation is also examined to estimate the level of convergence among those societies. By the support of empirical data, it is found that there is a quite huge time gap in the socio-economic developmental stage of the three East Asian societies. While the convergence of the industrial and occupational structures is slow, the convergence in prestige ranking of occupations is relatively fast. This represents that the perceptions and attitudes of Chinese show a rapid converging tendency with more advanced societies, but the speed of structural transformation of China is retarded. The results only partially support convergence hypothesis. Key Words - Industrial structure, occupational structure, occupational prestige ranking, East Asian societies, convergence theory.