Gender and Race Impacts on Occupational Segregation, Prestige, and Earnings

How do race and gender affect people's fates in the American labor force? The effects of gender on various occupational characteristics are widely discussed (Blumberg 1978; England and McCreamy 1987; Glenn 1987; Marini 1989; Sokoloff 1987). Of special interest are three classic focuses of labor-force analysis: segregation, wages, and prestige. Although explanations differ, it is agreed that gender affects occupational segregation (see, for example, Tienda et al. 1987), earnings, and prestige (Bose and Rossi 1983). Race effects on occupational characteristics have an even more venerable standing in the literature.