Modeling the probability of niche employment: Exploring workforce segmentation in Metropolitan Atlanta

This paper examines employment concentrations (commonly called niches) in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. Concentration ratios (created from 1990 5% Public Use Microdata. Samples) reveal niches characterized by gender, race, and ethnicity. White workers of both sexes commonly hold niches in white-collar occupations and non-Whites (Blacks, Mexicans, Koreans, Chinese, and Asian Indians) primarily occupy niches as blue-collar, or secondary service workers. Chinese, Korean and Asian Indian males are the only groups of non-Whites to hold jobs in a significant number of white-collar employment niches. Generally, non-White niches pay very little and for women, especially, niche employment is generally not very lucrative. Logistic regression models explore predictors of niche employment and indicate that the social constructs of ethnicity and race have the most substantial impact upon an individual's odds for niche employment. Human capital measures alone do not sufficiently account for niche employment, and segmentation theory best explains the phenomenon.