College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
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The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
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Item Firm Owners and Workers: An Analysis of Immigrants and Ethnic Concentration(2009) Garcia-Perez, Monica I.; Haltiwanger, John; Economics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation consists of three chapters examining the important role of firm and coworker characteristics, as well as the use of social networks, in labor markets. The first paper investigates the effect of firm owners and coworkers on hiring patterns and wages. Immigrant-owned firms are more likely to hire immigrant workers. This prevalence is especially strong for Hispanic and Asian workers. We also find that the probability that a new hire is a Hispanic is higher for immigrant firms. On wage differentials, the results illustrate that much of the difference between the log annual wages of immigrants and natives can be explained by immigrants' propensity to work in non-native owned firms, which pay the lowest average wages. Interestingly, though, native workers holding a job in immigrant firms are paid less than immigrant workers. The last section examines the potential mechanisms for these findings. It explores the importance of job referral and use of networks for migrants in labor markets. We consider the theoretical implications of social ties between owners and workers in this context. Firms decide whether to fill their vacancies by posting their offers or by using their current workers' connections. Next, we explore the patterns of immigrant concentration relative to native workers at the establishment level in a sample of metropolitan areas. Immigrants are much more likely to have immigrant coworkers than are natives, and are particularly likely to work with others from the same country of origin, even within local markets. The concentration of immigrants is higher for recent immigrants and interestingly for older immigrants. We find large differences associated with establishment size that cannot be explained solely by statistical aggregation. Exploring the mechanisms that underlie these patterns, we find that proxies for the role of social networks, as well as the importance of language skills in the production process, are important correlates of immigrant concentration in the workplace.Item Marginalized By Race And Place: Occupational Sex Segregation In Post-Apartheid South Africa(2008-07-29) Parashar, Sangeeta; Presser, Harriet B.; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Racial and gender disparities found in most other societies are particularly magnified in South Africa where the marginalized social group constitutes a numerical majority of the population. These factors, along with region, are dominant axes of inequality in the country. However, empirical knowledge of the interplay between these systems of social inequality in determining employment outcomes remains somewhat scant. This dissertation addresses that gap by studying occupational sex segregation across various racial groups using multilevel modeling techniques. Individual-level data from the 2001 Census and magisterial-level data from survey data aggregations and published sources are used. I first study the influence of (1) individual (education and migration), (2) household characteristics (family status), and (3) contextual factors (urbanization, former homeland residence, industrial composition, and culture) on women's likelihood of being in white- and blue-collar male-dominated occupations. I then investigate whether the effects of these individual and contextual characteristics on occupational placement vary across the four main racial groups (i.e., black African, Coloureds, Asian-Indians, and Whites)? That is, do these factors interact differently for different racial groups? Results from the analyses indicate that high concentrations of service industries tend increased women's opportunities for holding white-collar male-dominated occupations. On the other hand, while black African women's placement in male-dominated jobs is not influenced by urbanization, women of other races, particularly Coloureds and Whites, fare better in urban districts. In fact, residence in and around homelands was particularly significant for black Africans who are still trying to gain a foothold in mainstream South African society. In the unique case of Indian women, labor supply factors such as education, have greater predictive power than macro-level demand factors. In terms of human supply variables, educational attainment improves women's chances of holding male-dominated occupations among white collar workers across all racial groups; the effect is not as strong among blue-collar workers. However, returns to education are not as high as expected. Migration is significant for only black Africans, highlighting the legacy of apartheid. Finally, women's marital status and associated short-term child bearing obligations do not act as impediments to their occupational choices.