Occupational Segregation by Race and Ethnicity in the US: Differences across States

Using the 2005–2007 American Community Survey, this paper analyzes the extent of geographical disparities in occupational segregation by race and ethnicity across the United States. Although the unconditional analysis shows great geographical variation in segregation, with the largest levels in the Southwest, the analysis of segregation conditioned on the distribution of characteristics reveals that segregation of workers with similar characteristics is generally greater in the East Central region. To quantify conditional segregation, this paper adapts a propensity score technique that simultaneously controls for several characteristics, allowing the identification of the factors that explain the geographical variation of unconditional segregation.