Abstract: By making use of the 2010 data of CFPS, this paper specially tests the direct impact of parental occupation status on children’s occupation choices. As for the data process, in order to obtain unbiased estimates of coefficients and standard errors, it adopts the Bayesian multiple interpolation method to fill in the dependent variable and the independent variable for the missing values of the sampling data. As for the choosing of statistic model, it applies OLS, the instrumental variable method and 2SLS to rectify the bias in the estimation. In order to select the optimal weight matrix, it employs GMM and IGMM to test the direct impact of each factor, especially fathers’ occupation, on the children’s occupation choices and the regional differences. In order to avoid the estimation bias from the sample selection, it introduces the Heckman selection model to verify the robustness of the estimation results of the instrumental variable method, GMM and other models. The results reveal that if the father generation holds higher occupational status, the children’s occupation status will be correspondingly higher, which indicates that there exists class solidification in China in term of procedure. Through the Heckman selection model, it is also found that fathers’ occupational status have a significant impact on their children’s occupation choices and the development of the children’s existing occupations. In addition, this impact also manifests regional differences, the more developed the economic level or the more opened the cultural level, the stronger the fathers’ occupational impact will be. However, the individual education level is the dominant factor influencing their occupational status.

Key words: occupational status; intergenerational transmission; education level