Occupational Segregation Measures: A Role for Status

Abstract

This paper defines local segregation measures which are sensible to status differences among organizational units. So far as we know, this is the first time that status-sensitive segregation measures are offered in a multigroup context by invoking a cardinal measure of status. They are intended to complement, rather than substitute, previous local measures since they allow assessing the segregation of a target group, the distribution of which departs from the occupational structure of the economy, by penalizing its concentration in low-status occupations. The usefulness of these tools is illustrated in the case of occupational segregation of immigrants and natives in Spain.