Progress Toward Increasing Women’s and Minorities’ Access to Top State Government Jobs?

Abstract

This study examines the impact of qualifications and hiring advantages on women’s and minorities’ access to state government jobs, both in managerial and high-salary positions and overall. It also looks at how race and gender differences in representation have changed since 1990 and how they compare with the private sector. All groups, except Latino and Asian men, are more likely than White men to work for state governments, and all groups are more likely to do so than comparable White men. White men remain more likely to be managers and to earn top-decile salaries than comparable White women and people of color. Differences in education, experience, veteran status, and citizenship contribute, in different ways, to each group’s underrepresentation at top levels, but sizable unexplained gaps remain. The good news is that access to top jobs is better in state governments than in the private sector and has improved since 1990.

Women’s Place in the National Park Service: Earning Equal Pay

“…Although the federal personnel system effectively reduces within-job pay gaps, occupational segregation does account for part of the gender pay gap in federal agencies (Choi, 2018; Smith-Doerr et al, 2019). Overall, women and people of color are more likely to work in state governments than white males with similar qualifications, but White men are still paid more when employed by state governments (Lewis et al, 2022). One consistent finding is that the type of work an agency performs is associated with gender pay gaps.…”

Contact and control: Engagement and influence among women of color state agency heads

“…This is important to consider as bias in communication and oversight has been found to exist within the bureaucracy, but little is known regarding bureaucrats identifying with underrepresented groups and their communication with political oversight agents. While Lewis et al (2022) find that women of color are making representational strides in the public versus for‐profit sector, Calsy and D'Agostino (2021) explain that progress for women of color in the public sector is elusive in terms of involvement with decision‐making, stating that “structures of decision making and patterns of interaction have replaced racism and sexism as the frontier of inequality,” (p. 5). Concepts of oversight and discretion in decision‐making within state agencies are an area that needs to be further examined in terms of inequity.…”

Perspectivas de la investigación en el acceso laboral: Un enfoque desde el desajuste espacial y el bienestar laboral

“…Puntualmente, las personas de color y quienes no tienen educación universitaria siguen vivenciando la exclusión de acceso a los mejores trabajos (Sun, 2020). De esta forma, los hombres blancos son más propensos a tener cargos gerenciales con mejores remuneraciones que las mujeres y la gente de color (Lewis et al, 2021). El desplazamiento hacia los lugares de trabajo también ha sido un factor crítico para la empleabilidad.…”