U.S. Trends in Job Stability by Sex, Race, and Ethnicity from 1996 to 2020.

Abstract

How have inequalities in job stability evolved in the twenty-first century between demographic groups? I compute expected job tenures, akin to life expectancy in demographic research, for the population as a whole and by subgroups defined by selected ascribed characteristics (sex, race, and demographic research, for the population as a whole and by subgroups defined by selected ascribed characteristics (sex, race, and ethnicity) over biennial periods from 1996 to 2020. Racialized inequalities at hiring were the most persistent and large: white workers maintained an expected job tenure advantage at hiring relative to black workers in all periods. Inequalities in expected job tenure by sex were minimal at the time of hiring, but a male advantage emerges at the one-year mark in most periods. Hispanic workers maintained large advantages in expected job tenure relative to non-Hispanic workers in some periods and small disadvantages in others.