A new book, Documenting Desegregation, makes the case that American workplaces are becoming increasingly more segregated, rather than integrated since the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This challenge to the idea of a post-racial America is based on research gathered from five million private sector employers and EEOC statistics dating as far as back as 1996.The book authors argue, that although the overall American workforce is more diverse, the racial diversity within individual occupations and work sectors has become resegregated.
While you may find white men working with black women and white women, you will not tend to find black men working with white men. This resegregation trend is reflected in industries like transportation services, motion pictures, construction, and securities and commodities brokerages. The work sectors that continue to reflect a diverse workforce are professional jobs where workers need specific academic credentials for hiring and promotions. The Washington Post has more about this trend towards desegregation.
