Moving Up or Going Nowhere? Race and Gender Inequality in Management by Sector of Employment, 1980-2012

• In Event: 517 - Section on Organizations, Occupations and Work Paper Sessions. Race and Ethnicity in Organizations and Markets

Abstract

This article analyzes of changes in the status of Black men and women and White women in managerial occupations from 1980 to 2012 using U.S. Decennial Census data from 1980 to 2000 and American Community Survey data from 2007-2012. The author examines both relative access to managerial jobs, and relative earnings within them, separately for the private and public sectors of employment. Results show that progress towards race and gender parity in access to management and the financial benefits associated with managerial status has slowed or stalled in recent years. Likewise, White men have retained a large earnings advantage within management, and only White women reached near parity with White men in relative access to managerial occupations. However, it appears that the public sector remains a protective sphere of employment, as we see significantly smaller gender earnings gaps, and White men’s advantage in access to managerial occupations is much more limited in government employment at each time point.

Author

• Moriah Wren Willow, Univeristy of Maryland