Abstract: The quality of college students’ employment is a key indicator for evaluating the flow of social classes. The influence of parental careers on the employment performance of their children has always been a topic of wide concern. Based on the survey data of the employment status of college graduates in 2017, this paper analyzes the influence of parental occupation types on the employment direction of college students and the starting salary of employment. The findings of this study show that when the influence that may be caused by such factors as the student individual characteristics, human capital, job search process and so on is controlled, the probability that graduates whose parents are working in the government system would find jobs in the same system is slightly higher than other college students, but they cannot gain more at the starting salary of employment. While from the perspective of the impact mechanism, the parents working within the government system has a significant positive impact on the graduates’ academic levels and career choices, and it is likely that these variables will affect the employment performance of the graduates.

Key words: parental occupation type; graduates; employment performance; intergenerational transmission