The Dimensions of Racial Inequality: Occupational and Residential Segregation Across Metropolitan Areas in the United States

Abstract

Residential and occupational segregation are two structural systems that perpetuate the disadvantaged status of blacks in American society. Despite extensive research on both these topics, there has been little empirical examination as to whether they are independent systems or both part of a larger monolithic system of racial inequality. An analysis of 1990 Census data for 261 metropolitan areas shows that there is a negative zero‐order correlation between the two forms of segregation. However, controlling for the size of the population accounts for the negative correlation. Net of this exogenous factor, the correlation between the two forms of segregation is not statistically significant. This suggests that for individuals, the issue of racial inequality is one of tradeoffs between forms of disadvantage as one moves from city to city. For policymakers, these results indicate that urban racial inequality is multidimensional, requiring different strategies for different manifestations.

The Historical Demography of Racial Segregation

“…White households were often located nearby, but they tended to be up the hill or across the tracks, away from industrial nuisances. Tsegregation thus minimized the spatial mismatch found in some modern U.S. cities, where blacks are both physically and socially isolated from labor market opportunities due to their places of residence (Ovadia 2003). 3 The prevalence of the black population in cities is another factor associated with historical levels of residential segregation.…”

Occupational Segregation by Race and Ethnicity in the United States: Differences Across States

“…Several studies have tackled occupational segregation in the United States at the local level, exploring either variation across metropolitan areas or investigating selected cities (CATANZARITE, 2000;SEMYO-NOV et al, 2000;OVADIA, 2003;. Certainly, urban areas are the natural scale on which to study the employment possibilities of individuals while taking commuting time into account.…”

Demographic Analysis of Latin American Immigrants in Spain

“…Although some other studies agree on the direction of the relationship, they differ in signalling that immigrant women are less concentrated than men (Wright and Ellis 2000). On the other hand, some scholars have found a negative association between occupational and residential segregation (Galster and Keeney 1988), and with results that suggest that the spatial patterns of occupational segregation do not vary greatly by gender (Ovadia 2003).…”