Abstract

Managerial Attainment of College-Educated, Native-Born Asian Americans

Isao Takei, Arthur Sakamoto and Janet Chen-Lan Kuo

Using data from the 2010 National Survey of College Graduates, this study investigates the managerial authority of native-born, college-educated racial/ethnic minorities. Asian Americans seem to be disadvantaged in that they are likely to supervise fewer employees than do comparable non-Hispanic whites. Yet, this gap is statistically explained by some basic demographic variables including age and education. On the other hand, African Americans and Hispanic whites do not appear to be disadvantaged in comparison to whites. Rather, these two minority groups supervise more employees than do comparable whites, after controlling for some basic demographic factors. Regarding wages, Asian Americans are advantaged in reference to whites, but African Americans and Hispanic whites are disadvantaged even after controlling for parents’ education, major field of study, and college type, in addition to socioeconomic characteristics and region of residence. The implications of these findings for policy and research on racial/ethnic differentials are briefly discussed.