Is the long-term reduction in occupational sex segregation still continuing in the United States?

This research note uses comparable data on 13 broad occupational categories from the Current Population Survey to analyze changes in job segregation between men and women over the period 1972–2002. I find that the Sex Segregation Index declined by about 10 percentage points from 43.96% in 1972 to 34.10% in 2002. The long-term reduction in occupational sex segregation in the United States continued during the period 1993–2002. However, it did so at a slower pace than in the two previous decades. I also find that the pattern of changes in the sex composition of occupations and in the occupational structure that contributed to the decline in the Sex Segregation Index over the period 1972–2002 substantially shifted during the period 1993–2002. The sex composition effect represented about 65% of the reduction in segregation during the period 1972–1983 while it accounted for only about 25% during the period 1993–2002.