Do College-Educated, Native-Born Asian Americans Face a Glass Ceiling in Obtaining Managerial Authority?

Isao Takei, University of Texas at Austin
Arthur Sakamoto, University of Texas at Austin

Using data from the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates, this study investigates the managerial authority of native-born, college-educated racial/ethnic minorities. Managerial authority is measured in terms of the total number of people supervised directly or indirectly through subordinates. Controlling for socioeconomic origins, college type, college major, and labor market credentials, the results indicate that Asian American men supervise about 13% fewer employees than do non-Hispanic white men. Relative to the latter group, the effects for Hispanic white and Hispanic non-white men are not statistically significant. The effects for Asian American, Hispanic white, and Hispanic non-white women are also not statistically significant. Conversely, African American men and women are slightly advantaged in that they are somewhat more likely to supervise more employees than do non-Hispanic whites. Thus, college-educated, native-born Asian American men are distinctive as being the only major minority group that is disadvantaged in obtaining managerial authority.