Institute for Researchon Poverty Discussion Papers

The Occupational Position of Employed Hispanic Women Systematic investigation of the labor market experiences of Hispanic origin women is a relatively new endeavor in the field of social stratification. This study contributes to the research on ethnic stratification by comparing the importance of achieved and ascribed characteristics as criteria for assigning occupational positions to women of Hispanic national origin in the United States. Analyses are based on the 1976 Survey of Income and Education. They are performed separately for wo~en of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Central and South American, .and other-Hispanic origins, and for nonHispanic white women. First, with probit analyses we examine labor market entry, as this conditions the probability that women will have an occupation. We subsequently assess the determinants of occupational status, using regression techniques and correcting for selection bias. Finally, we employ discriminant analyses in order to examine the allocation of female labor into occupations, emphasizing similarities .and differences among nationalities, as well as between Hispanic and nonHispanic white women. Results indicate important differences in the occupational positions of Hispanic women according to national origin, and provide some support for the ascription explanation of stratification. Findings also point to the importance of differential access to resources among the Hispanic national origin groups and non-Hispanic whites as determinants of women's position in the occupational stratification system. THE OCCUPATIONAL POSITION OF EMPLOYED HISPANIC WOMEN Systematic investigation of the labor market experiences of Hispanic-origin women is a relatively new endeavor in the field of social stratification. T.he few available studies have identified important differences among women of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Central and South American, and "other Hispanic" (the residual classification) origin along several labor market dimensions, including participation rates (Newman, 1978; Cooney and Ortiz, 1981); returns from work (Reimers, 1982); extent of labor force involvement (Guhleman and Tienda, 1981); and employment adequacy (Cooney and Colon, 1979; Guhleman and Tienda, 1981). However, most existing studies are highly descrip~ive, or lack a coherent theoretical framework about the meaning of lIHispanicityll as a dimension of ethnic stratification. No researchers have undertaken multivariate analyses of the determinants of Hispanic women's occupational position, even though recent studies of sex stratification have considered the role of race (Treiman and Terrell, 1975, Beck, Horan, and Tolbert, 1978; U. S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1978). Until recently women were routinely excluded from empirical analyses of socioeconomic achievement on the grounds that their labor market experiences were too complicated for straightforward application of existing research models. Beginning with the benchmark study of sex and the process of status attainment (Treiman and Terrell, 1975), the midto late 1970s witnessed publication of several studies focusing on the prestige or socioeconomic status of the jobs women occupy and the array of background, achievement, and life-cycle factors that influence women's initial occupational roles (Featherman and Hauser, 1976b; McClendon, 1976; Rosenfeld and Sorensen, 1979; Fligstein and Wolf, 1978; Wolf and