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Ethnic Occupational Segregation

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Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics

Abstract

This chapter analyzes ethnic occupational segregation, which is the labor market feature that describes the pattern that one demographic group is underrepresented or overrepresented in a certain occupation. The analysis begins with descriptive statistics of recent patterns of ethnic occupational segregation in the United States and Europe. The analysis then moves to the review of the literature on the consequences of ethnic occupational segregation, among which economic inequality is most widely studied, but other topics (such as health disparities) are also reviewed. The analysis concludes with the review of the literature on possible causes of ethnic occupational segregation, including discrimination, selection on the labor market, population policy, and social network effects. Understanding causes of segregation helps economists design policy solutions to ethnic occupational segregation when it is presented as a negative labor market feature.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA

    Yuxin Zhang

  2. University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Dafeng Xu

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  1. Yuxin Zhang
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Correspondence to Dafeng Xu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. UNU-MERIT & Princeton University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Klaus F. Zimmermann

Section Editor information

  1. Center for Population, Development and Labour Economics at UNU – MERIT, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Klaus F. Zimmermann

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Zhang, Y., Xu, D. (2023). Ethnic Occupational Segregation. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_414-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_414-1

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