Both the Olmecs and Chavins had job specialization, which basically means that they all had one area of expertise and they worked in that one area. There were major advantages to this along with disadvantages. An advantage of job specialization would be that you could be paid more if you knew how to do something that nobody else does and a disadvantage would be that there would be less people doing one job and it could take more time to complete because there would be less of a workforce. Jobs that were common among the Olmecs were:
- Farmers
- Craftsmen/artisan
- Laborers
- A by-product of large sedentary populations is that craftsmen and artisans are able to emerge.
- Also, a population of laborers is available for construction and maintaining of monumental architecture.
- The first construction that appears in all of the major centers is in the form of temples, palaces, ball courts,and raised road systems.
- At the center of large Regional States, marketplaces and administrative centers are constructed, and people throughout
- regional area operated in trade system.
- Architects
- Stonemasons
- Potters
- Goldsmiths
- Farming