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RESEARCH ARTICLE: Racial and Gender Differences in Job Mobility and Wages of Employees in Environmental Organizations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2011

Dorceta E. Taylor*
Affiliation:
PhD, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment, Ann Arbor, Michigan
*
Dorceta E. Taylor, University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment, 440 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1115; (phone) 734-971-1992; (fax) 734-936-2195; (e-mail) dorceta@umich.edu
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Abstract

Despite the plethora of studies about environmental organizations, few studies have examined the work experiences of employees. Consequently, this study analyzes the job mobility and earnings of 265 environmental professionals. The survey sample consisted of 153 White and 112 minority respondents, including 150 men and 115 women. The study examines three dependent variables: job tenure, starting salaries, and current salaries. It analyzes how the independent variables race, gender, educational attainment, disciplinary background, type of college attended, length of time working in current organization, length of time working in the environmental field, and type of environmental organization worked in are related to the outcome variables. The study found that the perception of wage inequity was stronger among minorities than Whites. However, binary logistic regression analysis found that neither race nor gender were significant in predicting job tenure, starting, or current salary in multivariate models.

Environmental Practice 13:370–385 (2011)

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Copyright
Copyright © National Association of Environmental Professionals 2011

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