The Continuing Significance of Race in the Occupational Attainment of Whites and Blacks: A Segmented Labor Market Analysis*

Abstract

In this article we posit that racial discrimination is not uniform across the U.S. labor market. While it is likely that patterns of racial discrimination occur in some types of jobs more than others, little empirical research has examined the effect of race across segmented labor markets. Incorporating two decades of comparable General Social Survey data, this article revisits William J. Wilson's hypothesis that the significance of race in determining labor market outcomes is declining. We examine the effect of race within two dissimilar labor segments over time, dividing the labor market into technique‐versus social‐skills‐oriented segments. Using this theoretically useful dichotomy, we examine if the net effect of race (African American and white men) on occupational prestige has declined from the 1970s to the 1990s. Our multivariate analysis shows that the net effect of race is different in each labor market. This suggests that racial discrimination against African Americans is not uniform across the entire labor market, but instead is differentiately manifested within various labor market segments. Overall, our findings partially support Wilson's thesis indicating that while the effect of race is no longer a significant indicator of occupational prestige by the 1990s in a technique‐oriented job segment, it remains a significant predictive variable within a social‐skills‐oriented job segment, even when controlling for a range of social class and structural variables.

New Color Lines: Racial/Ethnic Inequality in Earnings among College-Educated Men

“…On the other hand, all native‐born racial/ethnic minorities in business‐related areas endured a 15 to 20 percent earnings penalty compared to their white counterparts. These results are consistent with the argument that racial prejudice is weakest in science and technology areas (Kim and Tamborini ) and that Asian Americans strategically choose a STEM concentration to avoid racial discrimination (Xie and Goyette ). Why the patterns of racial/ethnic disparity differ by field of study is an important question.…”

Travel mode choice: affected by objective or subjective determinants?

“…This structural approach was mainly developed by Bourdieu (1984). It is empirically supported by the continuous connection between educational and occupational achievements and social and ethnic origin, see for instance, Lampard (1995) or Kim and Tamborini (2006).…”

Transitions to the Top

“…This suggests that particularistic processes, such as the particularistic manipulation of the intangible characteristics and differential performance evaluation and treatment of Black and White coaches occupying the same positions, are operating to facilitate White coaches’ and hinder Black coaches’ career attainment. As a result, this research has important implications for understanding the effects of job-level racial segregation in coaching professions and other contemporary high-status occupations, where general experience and subjective skills are increasingly valued over firm-specific experience and formal credentials (see DiPrete, Goux, & Maurin, 2002; Kim & Tamborini, 2006; Moss & Tilly, 1996).…”

“…Minority workers’ restricted access to jobs, occupations, and economic sectors that offer the opportunity to develop requisite human capital, social network contacts, and display the particularistic criteria necessary for promotion into high-status jobs and occupations has been implicated in divergent mobility outcomes for White and Black workers (see Baldi & McBrier, 1997; Byron, 2010; Collins, 1997; Greenhaus, Parasuraman, & Wormley, 1990; Kim & Tamborini, 2006; Maume, 1999; Mueller, Parcel, & Tanaka, 1989; Paulin & Mellor, 1996; Smith & Elliott, 2002; Wilson et al., 1999). Furthermore, recent work has shown that even when White and minority workers occupy similar jobs, occupations, or economic sectors, minorities are still at a disadvantage compared with Whites in regard to their future career attainment (see Harvey Wingfield, 2009; Wilson, 2012).…”