'Dirty job' stigma costs workers $100k in earnings over career lifetime, research finds

Workers who are employed in “dirty jobs” – considered occupations that are perceived as disgusting or degrading, like meatpackers, prison guards or paparazzi – face lasting career penalties, according to new research from the University of Florida.

Those with a history of “dirty work,” which can range from the physically dirty, like a sewer dredger, to socially dirty, like a special education teacher, and morally dirty, like a debt collector, earned an average of 7% less annually in their future jobs, secured lower-prestige positions and experienced longer periods of unemployment compared to those without similar work histories, the research found.

“Over 12 million American workers in 2024 were employed in a ‘dirty job,’” said Junhui Yang, a Ph.D. student in management at UF’s Warrington College of Business. “Despite many of these jobs being essential to our world, the stigma that these individuals face due to their job history causes them to lose out on earnings and opportunities in the future. The dirt doesn’t ‘wash away,’ so to speak, even when they move into a new role.”