Accountants Near the Middle in Prestige

A recent Harris Poll found that firefighters, doctors and nurses were considered to be high-prestige jobs while stockbrokers and real estate agents were near the bottom of the list. At an in-between point, just below entertainers, just above journalists and tied with bankers, were accountants. A more comprehensive breakdown showed 17% of poll respondents thought that accounting had great prestige, 30% gave it a considerable rating, 40% said accounting was somewhat prestigous and 11% attached little or no prestige to accounting. By comparision, firefighters had a 63% very great rating, scientists 54% (perhaps accountants need a TV show equivalent to CBS' Numbers), clergy 40% and business executives 11%.

I guess that the flippant comment here would be something along the line of how many meals has prestige ever placed on a table. More significantly, I suppose, the medium-low prestige rating may reduce the number of teenagers considering accounting as a career choice.

UPDATE: See Kerry Kerstetter's take at http://www.taxguru.net/2006/07/occupational-prestige.html.