Trends in Occupational Segregation by Race and Gender in the U.S.A., 1983-92: A Multidimensional Approach

Abstract

In the measurement of occupational segregation by race and gender, pairwise comparisons of employment distributions, based on the Index of Dissimilarity, are unsatisfactory. A multidimensional approach, based on Silber (1992), is adopted to analyze trends in segregation across six race/gender groups and four groups of occupations over the period 1983-92. Black males and females have integrated fastest, whereas Hispanics integrated slowest. White-collar occupations exhibited a modest pro-cyclical rate of integration, but blue-collar occupations exhibited little change. The empirical results are linked to the recent radical literature that explores the relationship between job exclusion, racial discrimination and wage differentials (Mason 1993 and Williams 1991).