A study of underemployment, written as part of the development of a management information project (MISOE) for the Division of Occupational Education of the Department of Education in Massachusetts, the work represents the beginning of an effort to bring systematic, empirically based policy analysis to bear on problems of occupational education. The essay concerns the dynamics of social stratification and the labor market in the Commonwealth, addressing two issues: (1) What are the determinants and consequences of occupational educational stratification in Massachusetts? (2) To what extent can extreme occupational inequalities be reduced by various purposeful social policies? Following a brief introduction and a discussion of methodology, an analysis of the empirical foundation of the study of educational and occupational stratification occurs, in discussions of theory and model structure. The model generates a 40-year time history; during the simulation, the period 1960-2000 is traversed in one-year intervals, given initial conditions. The model is self-regulating. The curves in graphs provided are computer plots showing the behavior of selected system variables as generated through time by the simulation model; sequentially numbered equations required to run the program are included. Twenty-five pages of variable definitions are appended. (Author/AJ)