This study examines the impact of qualifications and hiring advantages on women’s and minorities’ access to state government jobs, both in managerial and high-salary positions and overall. It also looks at how race and gender differences in representation have changed since 1990 and how they compare with the private sector. All groups, except Latino and Asian men, are more likely than White men to work for state governments, and all groups are more likely to do so than comparable White men. White men remain more likely to be managers and to earn top-decile salaries than comparable White women and people of color. Differences in education, experience, veteran status, and citizenship contribute, in different ways, to each group’s underrepresentation at top levels, but sizable unexplained gaps remain. The good news is that access to top jobs is better in state governments than in the private sector and has improved since 1990.

本研究考察了资格和招聘优势对女性和少数族裔获得州政府职位的影响，包括管理职位和高薪职位以及整体职位。它还研究了自 1990 年以来种族和性别差异在代表性方面的变化，以及它们与私营部门的比较。除拉丁裔和亚裔男性外，所有群体都比白人更有可能为州政府工作，而且所有群体都比可比的群体更有可能这样做白人。与可比的白人女性和有色人种相比，白人男性仍然更有可能成为经理，并获得最高十分之一的薪水。教育、经验、退伍军人身份和公民身份的差异以不同的方式导致每个群体在高层的代表性不足，但仍然存在相当大的无法解释的差距。好消息是州政府比私营部门更容易获得高层职位，并且自 1990 年以来有所改善。