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Workplace Segregation in the United States: Race, Ethnicity, and Skill

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Author Info
Judith Hellerstein
David Neumark

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Abstract

We study workplace segregation in the United States using a unique matched employer employee data set that we have created. We present measures of workplace segregation by education and language, and by race and ethnicity, and . since skill is often correlated with race and ethnicity we assess the role of education- and language-related skill differentials in generating workplace segregation by race and ethnicity. We define segregation based on the extent to which workers are more or less likely to be in workplaces with members of the same group, and we measure segregation as the observed percentage relative to maximum segregation. Our results indicate that there is considerable segregation by education and language in the workplace. Among whites, for example, observed segregation by education is 17% (of the maximum), and for Hispanics, observed segregation by language ability is 29%. Racial (blackwhite) segregation in the workplace is of a similar magnitude to education segregation (14%), and ethnic (Hispanic-white) segregation is somewhat higher (20%). Only a tiny portion (3%) of racial segregation in the workplace is driven by education differences between blacks and whites, but a substantial fraction of ethnic segregation in the workplace (32%) can be attributed to differences in language proficiency. Finally, additional evidence suggests that segregation by language likely reflects complementarity among workers speaking the same language.

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File URL: http://www.ces.census.gov/index.php/ces/cespapers?down_key=101773
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Paper provided by Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau in its series Working Papers with number 07-02.

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Length: 52 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2007
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Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:07-02

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Kimberly Bayard & Judith Hellerstein & David Neumark & Kenneth Troske, 1999. "Why are Racial and Ethnic Wage Gaps Larger for Men than for Women? Exploring the Role of Segregation," NBER Working Papers 6997, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. John Haltiwanger & C J Krizan & Lucia Foster, 1998. "Aggregate Productivity Growth: Lessons From Microeconomic Evidence," Working Papers 98-12, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Judith K. Hellerstein & David Neumark, 2002. "Ethnicity, Language, and Workplace Segregation: Evidence from a New Matched Employer-Employee Data Set," NBER Working Papers 9037, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Antonio Cabrales & Antoni Calvó, 2002. "Social Preferences and Skill Segregation," Economics Working Papers 629, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
  9. Welch, Finis, 1990. "The Employment of Black Men," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages S26-74, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. John J. Donohue III & James Heckman, 1991. "Continuous Versus Episodic Change: The Impact of Civil Rights Policy on the Economic Status of Blacks," NBER Working Papers 3894, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(4), pages 991-1013, September. [Downloadable!]
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  13. O'Neill, June, 1990. "The Role of Human Capital in Earnings Differences between Black and White Men," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 25-45, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Kimberly Bayard & Judith Hellerstein & David Neumark & Kenneth R. Troske, 1999. "Why Are Racial And Ethnic Wage Gaps Larger For Men Than For Women? Exploring The Role Of Segregation Using The New Worker-Establishment Characteristics Database," Labor and Demography 9902002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  15. Gilles Saint Paul, 1999. "On the Distribution of Income and Worker Assignment under Intra-firm Spillovers, with an Application to Ideas and Networks," Economics Working Papers 417, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Kenneth R Troske & William J Carrington, 1996. "Sex Segregation in U.S. Manufacturing," Working Papers 96-4, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau. [Downloadable!]
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  19. Michael Kremer & Eric Maskin, 1996. "Wage Inequality and Segregation," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1777, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
  20. Federico Echenique & Roland G. Fryer Jr., 2005. "On the Measurement of Segregation," Labor and Demography 0503006, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  21. David H. Autor & Lawrence F. Katz & Melissa S. Kearney, 2005. "Trends in U.S. Wage Inequality: Re-Assessing the Revisionists," NBER Working Papers 11627, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. Darity, William A, Jr & Mason, Patrick L, 1998. "Evidence on Discrimination in Employment: Codes of Color, Codes of Gender," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 63-90, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  24. Neal, Derek A & Johnson, William R, 1996. "The Role of Premarket Factors in Black-White Wage Differences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 869-95, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  25. David Card & John E. DiNardo, 2002. "Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(4), pages 733-783, October. [Downloadable!]
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  26. Carrington, William J & Troske, Kenneth R, 1997. "On Measuring Segregation in Samples with Small Units," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 15(4), pages 402-09, October.
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  29. Hirsch, Barry T. & Macpherson, David A., 2003. "Wages, Sorting on Skill, and the Racial Composition of Jobs," IZA Discussion Papers 741, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  30. Altonji, Joseph G. & Blank, Rebecca M., 1999. "Race and gender in the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 48, pages 3143-3259 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Rebecca Allen & Simon Burgess & Frank Windmeijer, 2009. "More Reliable Inference for Segregation Indices," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 09/216, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
  2. Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2006. "Testing for Employee Discrimination in Britain using Matched Employer-Employee Data," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 8-2006, University of Cyprus Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Åslund, Olof & Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2007. "How to Measure Segregation Conditional on the Distribution of Covariates," Working Paper Series 2007:27, Uppsala University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Hipólito Simón & Esteban Sanromá & Raúl Ramos, 2008. "Labour segregation and immigrant and native-born wage distributions in Spain: an analysis using matched employer–employee data," Spanish Economic Review, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 135-168, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Judith Hellerstein & David Neumark & Melissa McInerney, 2007. "Changes in Workplace Segregation in the United States between 1990 and 2000: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data," NBER Working Papers 13080, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  6. Åslund, Olof & Nordström Skans, Oskar, 2005. "Will I see you at work? Ethnic workplace segregation in Sweden 1985–2002," Working Paper Series 2005:24, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
  7. Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos & Stephen Wheatley Price, 2004. "Testing For Employee Discrimination Using Matched Employer-Employee Data: Theory And Evidence," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 915, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Judith K. Hellerstein & Melissa McInerney & David Neumark, 2009. "Spatial Mismatch, Immigrant Networks, and Hispanic Employment in the United States," NBER Working Papers 15398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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