Manager ethnicity and employment segregation

Abstract

The authors examine the effect of manager ethnicity on the ethnic composition of employment using nine years of personnel records from a regional grocery store chain in the United States. The workforce studied is composed almost entirely of a white majority and a large Hispanic minority; the authors focus on the role of Hispanic ethnicity. Estimating models with store fixed effects, the authors examine the effects of manager ethnicity on hiring, transfer, and separation patterns. Effects of manager ethnicity are compared across several types of jobs, with significant effects occurring on hiring patterns but not on transfers, and effects occurring on separation patterns in only one atypical case. The authors also find that the effects on hiring occur only in jobs or departments with very few employees. © by Cornell University.