Fast Foreward
Amid the cultural chattel about what defines and constitutes “traditional” marriage, one business media outlet explored the institution in a creative way.
Bloomberg Business tapped into the data stream from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey, which polled 3.5 million households, to see the type of professionals other professionals wed.
In the business of match-making, who did the career-minded in selected professions seem to attract? Were they similar in category or management level? Or were they part of the so-called “opposites attract” romanticism, highlighted by polarizing pundits James Carville (that liberal Democratic icon) and Mary Matalin (that conservative Republican idealist) who periodically speak at healthcare conferences, particularly during presidential election seasons?
The answers may surprise you. Or not.
Bloomberg promoted its clever story, which injected some life into what an esoteric slice-of-life project by a federal bureaucracy, as a chart that showed “who marries CEOs, doctors, chefs and janitors.” And the interactive chart it developed for online exploration is downright cool. You can play with it here: http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-who-marries-whom/?cmpid=BBD021116_BIZ.
There were some yawn-inducing revelations. For example, the “most common” pairing involved grade-school teachers marrying each other. Cue the chirping crickets. Meanwhile, high-earning women, such as doctors and lawyers, tended to attract their economic equivalents. No surprise there.
Yet the data also showed that middle- and lower-earning women “often marry up.” Bloomberg’s reporting duo who penned the story about the survey — a man and a woman, no less – injected the following keen analysis sure to tickle your cockles: “In other words, female CEOs tend to marry other CEOs; male CEOs are OK marrying their secretaries.” NOW we’re getting somewhere. Of course, cynics will snort their surprise that male CEOs actually marry their secretaries. Maybe it’s a second marriage. You get the drift. Moving along now.
Curiously, survey data showed that female dancers seem to prefer male welders, but also lawyers, judges, CEOs and legislators. Male firefighters most often marry female nurses, while female nurses seem to prefer truck drivers, managers and retail supervisors. Hmm.
Explosives workers tend to pick elementary and middle school teachers, secretaries and administrative assistants, registered nurses, cashiers, maids and housekeeping cleaners, librarians and hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists.
Not surprisingly, physicians and surgeons tend to pair up with nurse anesthetists and registered nurses, but also retail salespersons and secretaries and administrative assistants.
Covering the healthcare supply chain industry for a quarter-century now as a journalist, writer and editor, naturally I wondered who might pair up with Healthcare Purchasing News’ heritage readership?
Their decision? Mildly surprising but chock full of common sense. Most refreshing, however, is that Bloomberg included a supply chain entry at all and didn’t short-shrift this important and valuable profession like so many other education and media outlets do.
Okay, technically they listed “purchasing managers,” which remains acceptable outside of healthcare but fell out of fashion in healthcare at least two decades ago if you remember that short-lived “resource manager” craze.
Purchasing managers pair up with miscellaneous managers, nonretail sales supervisors, registered nurses, nursing, psychiatric and home-health aides, elementary and middle school teachers and secretaries and administrative assistants, according to census data.
Noticeably absent: Supplier sales representatives, revenue cycle managers or information technology managers as suitable suitors for supply chain folks.
Perhaps HPN could include a question in its annual salary surveys for responders to list the top occupations of their spouses or significant others. Stay tuned.
Still, the connection supply chain has with nursing should be considered a positive sign as supply chain in healthcare seems to be plunging more deeply into interactions with clinical operations in this decade than in previous time periods. The Great Awakening and Reformation in Healthcare should welcome it as a necessity.
Rick Dana Barlow
About the Author
Rick Dana Barlow | Senior Editor
Rick Dana Barlow is Senior Editor for Healthcare Purchasing News, an Endeavor Business Media publication. He can be reached at [email protected].
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