Female participation increases and gender segregation. ESRI WP564, May 2017

This article examines the impact of a large increase in female participation on occupational segregation. Increases in female participation may decrease occupational segregation if women enter male dominated sectors but may increase segregation if they enter already female dominated sectors. Using Ireland as a test case due to the recent large increase in female participation rates, we firstly carry out a decomposition analysis between 1991 and 2006 and find that the rise in female employment was driven predominantly by increased demand while between one tenth and one fifth of the rise was due to women increasing their share of occupational employment. Formal measures of segregation show that occupational segregation fell over this time period. The formal measures of segregation show that the level of occupational grouping is important with stagnation or smaller falls in segregation using a broad occupational grouping and sharper falls using a more detailed occupational grouping. Our findings support previous U.S. research that found a rise in female participation resulted in a decline in occupational segregation

The Role of Educational Choice in Occupational Gender Segregation: Evidence from Trinidad and Tobago

We analyse the role of educational choice on the degree of occupational segregation in Trinidad and Tobago during a period in which educational policies intent on equating gender opportunities in education were implemented. To this end we utilise waves of the Trinidad and Tobago labour force survey over the period 1991-2004. Our results show that while educational segregation has fallen substantially over our sample period, this has not translated into less occupational segregation. This suggests that the educational policy has not been sufficient to combat occupational segregation. However, results at a more disaggregated level show that experiences have been heterogeneous across educational and occupational groups.gender, occupational segregation, educational choice

Educational presorting as a cause of occupational segregation

This article concentrates on the measurement of both occupational and educational segre gation between the men and women of the Dutch labour force. The majority of studies which have been conducted in this area are rather one-sided, concentrating on occupational segregation alone. However, occupational segregation can be split into three components. The first component concerns presorting as a consequence of the different educational choices made by boys and girls. The second component concerns postsorting (given their educational status), as a result of the differing occupational choices and opportunities for promotion between men and women during their careers. If men and women with the same educational background are directed towards different occupations, then postsorting may add to the occupational segregation which was already induced by the earlier educational segregation. This kind of postsorting increases the gap between occupational and educational segregation. The third component, which we refer to as reintegration is also a kind of postsorting, narrowing the gap between occupational and educational segregation. This occurs when men with a ''male type'' of education and women with a ''female type'' of education come together in one occupation. Given that educational segregation of the labour force is fixed in the short term, reintegration is the only effective, but probably difficult affirmative action program to reduce occupational segregation in the short term. More usual programs are ineffective and can even be counterproductive. After using the Duncan and Duncan segregation index we construct new segregation indices which measure the relative importance of pre- and postsorting in the occupational segregation more accurately. A more detailed insight into these three components is relevant when choosing the policy instruments needed to achieve equal employment opportunities for men and women.education, training and the labour market;

Occupational segregation of immigrant women in Spain

The aim of this paper is to analyze occupational segregation in the Spanish labor market from a gender and an immigration perspective. In doing so, several local and overall segregation measures are used. Our results suggest that immigrant women in Spain suffer a double segregation since segregation affects them to a greater extent than it does either native women or immigrant men. There are, however, remarkable discrepancies among the segregation of immigrant women depending on their region of origin. Thus, immigrant women from the European Union (EU) have the lowest occupational segregation, while segregation seems particularly intense in the group of women from European countries outside the EU bloc and Asia (the levels of which are higher than that of Latin American and African women).immigration; gender; occupational segregation; local segregation; overall segregation

Occupational Gender Segregation in the Czech Republic (in English)

The authors use labor force survey data to provide a detailed description and an international comparison of the level and structure of occupational gender segregation in the Czech Republic during 1994–2004. Based on 1999 data, they find Czech occupational segregation to be close to the EU average, with the exception of young, highly educated Czech workers, who faced relatively high segregation. However, segregation has declined rapidly for young workers since 1999, mainly due to the increased representation of women within occupations, not the changing occupational structure.occupational gender segregation

Occupational Gender Segregation in the light of the Segregation in Education: A Cross-National Comparison

The main aims of this article are to conduct a cross-national comparison of levels of occupational gender segregation and to examine the relation between the level of occupational gender segregation and gender segregation in education (both vertical and horizontal). The analyses include 18 European countries covered by the European Social Survey (ESS) conducted in 2004. The comparison pays a special attention to the position of the Czech Republic and differences and similarities between the EU-15 countries and the new EU member states, i.e. post-socialist countries.gender segregation ; occupational segregation ; cross-national segregatio

Conditional occupational segregation of minorities in the U.S.

In this paper, we use a propensity score-based methodology to analyze the role of demographic and human capital characteristics of minorities in the U.S. in explaining their high occupational segregation with respect to whites. Thus, we measure conditional segregation based on an estimated counterfactual distribution in which minorities are given the relevant characteristics of whites. Our results show that the different levels of attained education by ethnicity and race explain a substantial share of occupational segregation of non-whites in the U.S., while English skills or immigration status are especially relevant for explaining segregation among Hispanics and Asians.conditional occupational segregation, race and ethnicity, United States.

A Social Network Analysis of Occupational Segregation

We develop a social network model of occupational segregation between different social groups, generated by the existence of positive inbreeding bias among individuals from the same group. If network referrals are important for job search, then expected homophily in the contact network structure induces different career choices for individuals from different social groups. This further translates into stable occupational segregation equilibria in the labor market. We derive the conditions for wage and unemployment inequality in the segregation equilibria and characterize first and second best social welfare optima. Surprisingly, we find that socially optimal policies involve segregation.Social Networks, Homophily, Inbreeding Bias, Occupational Segregation, Labor Market Inequality, Social Welfare

A Social Network Analysis of Occupational Segregation

We develop a social network model of occupational segregation between different social groups, generated by the existence of positive inbreeding bias among individuals from the same group. If network referrals are important in getting a job, then expected inbreeding bias in the contact network structure induces different career choices for individuals from different social groups. This further translates into stable occupational segregation equilibria in the labour market. We derive the conditions for persistent wage and unemployment inequality in the segregation equilibria. Our framework is proposed as complementary to existing theories used to explain labour market inequalities between groups divided by race, ethnicity or genderSocial Networks; Inbreeding Bias; Occupational Segregation; Labour Market Inequality

Wage discrimination and occupational segregation of foreign male workers in Germany

We analyze wage discrimination against foreign male workers in Germany with respect to different nationality groups and focused on its interaction with occupational segregation. We found evidence of strong occupational segregation, which we mainly attribute to institutional factors but also to different endowments with human capital. For the measurement of wage discrimination itself we applied a tobit estimation procedure to the wage equation and carried out the usual Blinder/Oaxaca decomposition in the second step. We found a slight discrimination against all foreign male workers together, but considerably greater discrimination for some nationality groups such as East Europeans and persons from the Middle and Far East. The additional consideration of occupational segregation did not affect these results much. However, by far most 'of the wage differentials between Germans and foreign nationality groups could be attributed to different endowments with human capital. --Discrimination,occupational segregation,foreigners