Continuing Progress? Trends in Occupational Segregation in the United States over the 1970s and 1980s

Abstract

This study uses comparable data on 470 detailed occupations from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 Censuses to analyze trends in occupational segregation in the United States in the 1980s and compare them in detail to the 1970s experience of declining segregation. We find that the trend towards reduced segregation did indeed continue into the 1980s at only a slightly slower pace. In both decades, changes in sex composition within occupations accounted for the major share of the decline in segregation (compared to changes in the mix of occupations in the economy). We also find that the pattern of changes in the sex composition of occupations and in the employment distribution of workers that produced the observed reductions in segregation were remarkably similar in each of these two periods. This similarity potentially poses some problems for the future. As women continue to enter the same areas, resegregation, which we found to have relatively moderate effects in the 1970s and 1980s, becomes an increasing possibility. Continued progress towards reducing occupational segregation requires that women succeed in entering a broader range of traditionally male occupations and/or a greater flow of men into traditionally female occupations.Occupations, Employment, Occupational Segregation, Occupational Crowding, Gender Differences In Employment, Sex Composition,

An algorithm to reduce the occupational space in gender segregation studies

“…However, the idea that, ceteris paribus , the larger the number of occupations the better, can be questioned from two points of view. First, there is a potential bias due to small cell size (Blau et al , 1998): random allocations of individuals across occupations may generate relatively high levels of gender segregation purely by chance. Second, when the number of occupations is very large, results on segregation become difficult to interpret.…”

“…1 1 Most studies focus on the level of occupational gender segregation and its evolution over time. See, inter alia , Blau (1977), Blau and Hendricks (1979), Williams (1979), England (1981), Beller (1985), Albelda (1986), Jacobs (1989), Jacobsen (1994), Blau et al (1998). For a recent treatise on segregation, see Flückiger and Silber (1999).…”

“…2 2 In empirical studies using Census data, the occupational space typically reaches several hundred categories. For instance, in the USA Blau et al (1998) work with 470 occupations from the 1970, 1980 and 1990 Census. …”

“…3 3 See, for instance, Jacobs (1989), Jacobsen (1994) and Blau et al (1998). The exception is Deutsch et al (1994), where bootstrap methods are used to check the sensitivity of various summary indices to errors in the classification of individuals in the various occupations. …”

“…8 8 Compare this criterion based on the bootstrap with the informal procedure used in Blau et al (1998), where one eliminates in succession all occupations with less than 50 or 100 observations with 1980 US Census data. The number of occupations is reduced from 470 to 305 and 218, respectively.…”