Education Publications
No Room at the Top: Underrepresentation and Underemployment of Highly Qualified Women and Minorities
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
9-2004
Abstract
This paper will provide a brief overview of concepts of underrepresentation and underemployment of the talents of the labor force. Recent empirical research that addresses underrepresentation in the labor force and underemployment of job holders will be reviewed generally and with special attention to the extent of underrepresentation and underemployment of women and people of color in corporate executive, top managerial and top professional employee positions. Major US and UK studies will be highlighted. The findings of the largest national-level survey conducted to date on education-job requirement matching, completed in Canada in summer, 2004, will be summarized, again with special attention to the underemployment of women and people of color. Secondly, major barriers to equitable representation will be summarized for the highly qualified labor force in general and by gender and color in particular. Finally, current measures to create more equitable paid workplaces and close the gaps for women and people of color at the top of the employment hierarchy will be discussed briefly.