The Measurement of Segregation in the Labor Force

When considering labor market inequality across different demographic groups in society, it is natural for most individuals to think of discrimination as the most likely explanation. Since the pioneering work of University of Chicago economist and Nobel Laureate Gary Becker, there has been an abundance of both theoretical and empirical analysis on the issue of discrimination. What economists and other social scientists have learned is that the measurement of discrimination has proven to be far more challenging than anyone could have imagined. There is of course the technology of measurement that has to be addressed but there is also the related matter of how to define discrimination. Another University of Chicago economist and Nobel Laureate, Milton Friedman, cautioned against overlooking the distinction between equality of outcomes and equality of opportunity. The present book is a tour de force on the topic of segregation in the labor force. Segregation is a concept that is related to discrimination but it is not necessarily the same as discrimination. Segregation can be a mechanism for societal enforcement of discrimination, but it can also arise as the result of voluntary choices related to differences in preferences and household division of labor. The authors offer a counterweight to the traditional emphasis on wage discrimination over segregation and labor market segmentation. The subject is thoroughly addressed on both theoretical and empirical grounds with special emphasis on gender segregation in the Swiss labor market.

One: Introduction. - Two: Measuring the Concentration of Women in Specific Occupations and Industries. - 2. 1 Introduction. - 2. 2 The Oppenheimer Approach. - 2. 3 An Alternative Measure of the Concentration of Occupations and Industries. - 2. 4 The Marginal Matching Approach. - 2. 5 The Bootstrap Approach . - Appendix 2. A: List of Two-Digit Occupations (Swiss Census, 1980). - Appendix 2. B: List of Three-Digit industries (Swiss Census, 1980). - Three: On the Concept of Occupational Segregation. - 3. 1 Occupational Segregation as Reflecting the Dispersion of the Gender Ratios. - 3. 2 Occupational Segregation by Gender and the Overlapping of Two Distributions of the Gender Ratios. - Four: Cardinal Measures of Occupational Segregation. - 4. 1 A Short Survey of the Existing segregation Indices. - 4. 2 An Illustration: Segregation by Gender in Switzerland in 1970, 1980 and 1990. - Five: The Comparison of the Performance of the Different Segregation Indices. - 5. 1 On the Desirable Properties of a Segregation Index. - Six: The Ordinal Approach to the Study of Occupational Seregatiogn by Gender. - 6. 1 The Concept of Segregation Curve. - 6. 2 The Segregation Curve, the Duncans and the Gini- Segregation Indices. - 6. 3 An Axiomatic Approach to an Ordinal Measure of Occupational Segregation by Gender. - 6. 4 The Parametric Approach to the Study of Occupational Segregation. - 6. 5 Occupational Segregation by Gender in Switzerland and the Parametrization of Segregation Curves. - Seven: The Decomposition by Population Subgroups of Segregation by Gender in the Labor Force. - 7. 1 Introduction. - 7. 2 The Effect of Aggregation on Occupational Segregation. - 7. 3 Aggregation and Occupational Segregation by Gender in Switzerland. - 7. 4 The Respective Impact of Occupations and Industries on Segregation by Gender in theLabor Force. - 7. 5 Occupational Versus Industrial Segregation by Gender in Switzerland (1980). - Eight: The Analysis of Changes and Differences in Occupational Segregation by Gender. - 8. 1 Introduction. - 8. 2 The Duncans Index and the Study of Changes in Occupational Segregation by Gender. - 8. 3 The Gini-Segregation Index and the Analysis of Changes in Occupational Segregation by Gender. - 8. 4 Changes Over Time in Occupational and Industrial Segregation by Gender: The Case of Switzerland (1970 1980). - Nine: The Multidimensional Analysis of Segregation in the Labor Force. - 9. 1 Introduction. - 9. 2 The Generalization of the Duncans and the Gini- Segregation Indices. - 9. 3 The Decomposition of Changes in the Multidimensional G-Segregation Index. - 9. 4 An Iterative Approach to the Analysis of Change in the Multidimensional G-Segregation Index. - Ten: From Occupational Segregation to Wage Discrimination by Gender. - 10. 1 Introduction. - 10. 2 The Data. - 10. 3 The Impact of the Various Components of Human Capital on the Earnings of the Workers. - 10. 4 The Breakdown of the Income Differential by Gender. - 10. 5 The Role of Occupational Segregation. - Appendix 10. A: Definition of the Various Variables. - Bibliographic References. - Authors Index.