Early-Career Assignments and Workforce Inequality in Engineering

Figures & data

Table 1. EMS respondents by gender and race/ethnicity groups¹.

	EMS (2015–2017)	U.S. undergraduate engineering degree-earners (2016)^2
	% (n)	%
Women	35 (216)	21
Men	65 (409)	79
Asian/White	88 (552)	83
Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander	12 (73)	17
Asian/White women	30 (189)	17
Asian/White men	58 (363)	66
Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander women	4 (27)	4
Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander men	7 (46)	13

¹ Refer to Variables for coding details.

² Authors’ tabulations of data reported in NSF, Table 5–7, 2016. Denominator (N = 92,414) limited to U.S. citizen/permanent resident degree-earners providing race/ethnicity data that could be classified into EMS categories.

Note. n’s for stricter-criteria RQ2 models: 179 Asian/White women, 350 Asian/White men, 25 Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander women, 45 Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander men. Percentages may not add to 100.0 due to rounding.

Table 2. Assignments by gender and race/ethnicity groups.

	Stretch assignment – visibility			Stretch assignment – new area^1			Comparison assignment – documentation^2			Comparison assignment – skill application
	n	M	SD	n	M	SD	n	M	SD	n	M	SD
Asian/White women	187	2.84	1.02	188	3.26	0.82	187	3.14	0.97	188	2.54	1.02
Asian/White men	359	2.83	1.04	362	2.96	0.92	360	3.11	1.05	362	2.48	1.08
Black/Latinx/ Indigenous/ Pacific Islander women	27	3.00	0.96	27	3.22	0.93	27	3.63	0.69	27	2.30	1.20
Black/Latinx/ Indigenous/ Pacific Islander men	45	2.71	0.94	46	3.00	1.01	45	3.33	0.90	46	2.74	0.93
Total	618	2.83	1.02	623	3.06	0.91	619	3.16	1.01	623	2.51	1.06

¹ F(3,619) = 4.830, p = .002; post hoc comparisons using Bonferroni test: Asian/White women > Asian/White men p = .002.

² Welch Robust Test (3,92.45) = 4.756, p = .004; post hoc comparisons using Games-Howell test: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander women > Asian/White women p = .012, > Asian/White men p = .005.

Table 3. RQ1 access models: fully adjusted models (B coefficients shown with standard errors in parentheses).

	Assignment (dependent variable)
Independent variables	Visibility	New area	Documentation	Skill application
Gender group: Men	−.13 (.09)	−.31 (.08)***	−.13 (.09)	−.15 (.09)
Race/ethnicity group: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/ Pacific Islander	−.01 (.13)	−.03 (.12)	.21 (.11)	.16 (.13)
Elec/Mech Engr Degree	−.08 (.09)	.02 (.08)	−.03 (.09)	.12 (.09)
CS (in Engr) Degree	−.04 (.14)	.17 (.11)	−.49 (.15)**	.42 (.14)**
Sch1.0: Career conversations scale	.21 (.06)***	.15 (.05)**	.05 (.05)	.13 (.05)*
Sch1.0: College GPA	.01 (.03)	−.03 (.03)	−.12 (.03)***	.08 (.03)*
Wk3.0: Interned at current company	.20 (.08)*	.05 (.07)	.00 (.08)	−.02 (.09)
Wk3.0: Position: Engineering	.23 (.14)	.16 (.12)	.58 (.14)***	.50 (.13)***
Wk3.0: Functional Area: ‘Core engineering’ (R&D/Des/Prod/Mfg)	−.21 (.08)*	−.15 (.08)*	−.22 (.09)*	.14 (.09)
Wk3.0: Engr Task Self-Efficacy	.18 (.07)**	−.01 (.06)	.06 (.07)	.25 (.06)***
Constant	1.87 (.23)***	3.01 (.20)***	3.03 (.22)***	.89 (.21)***
R-square	.09	.06	.10	.13
Listwise n	602	607	604	607

***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05.

Variables lists coding schemes/reference groups. ‘Sch1.0’: EMS 1.0 college measure. ‘Wk3.0’: EMS 3.0 Job/workforce measure. All interactions between gender group and race/ethnicity group were non-significant. OSM Appendix B includes RQ1 full model sequence.

Table 4. RQ2 outcomes models: focal main effects and interaction term results, fully adjusted models (B coefficients shown with standard errors in parentheses; significant interaction terms in bold).

	Expected career outcome (dependent variable)
With controls …	Expected salary raise	Expected promotion	Intentions to stay	Career commitment
Visibility assignment sequence
Visibility	0.07 (.04)	0.10 (.05)*	0.12 (.05)*	0.09 (.04)*
Gender group: Men	0.08 (.08)	−0.07 (.10)	0.06 (.10)	0.08 (.09)
Race/ethnicity group: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander	0.04 (.11)	0.11 (.14)	0.06 (.15)	0.09 (.13)
Constant	2.30 (.23)***	1.43 (.26)***	1.20 (.24)***	1.24 (.23)***
R-square	0.04	0.04	0.13	0.20
Two-way interactions
Visibility	−0.07 (.06)	0.03 (.08)	0.02 (.08)	0.00 (.08)
Visibility*Gender group: Men	0.22 (.08)**	0.10 (.10)	0.15 (.10)	0.13 (.09)
Visibility	0.08 (.05)	0.11 (.05)*	0.08 (.05)	0.07 (.05)
Visibility*Race/ethnicity group: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander	−0.07 (.14)	−0.12 (.15)	0.37 (.16)*	0.21 (.15)
Exploratory three-way interaction	ns	−0.65 (.26)*	ns	ns
New area assignment sequence
New area	0.09 (.05)	0.19 (.06)**	−0.01 (.05)	−0.01 (.05)
Gender group: Men	0.09 (.08)	−0.02 (.10)	0.03 (.10)	0.06 (.09)
Race/ethnicity group: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander	0.03 (.11)	0.12 (.14)	0.09 (.15)	0.08 (.13)
Constant	2.16 (.27)***	1.02 (.30)**	1.47 (.28)***	1.48 (.27)***
R-square	0.05	0.06	0.11	0.19
Two-way interactions
New area	−0.05 (.07)	0.07 (.10)	−0.14 (.09)	−0.20 (.08)*
New area*Gender group: Men	0.20 (.09)*	0.18 (.12)	0.19 (.11)	0.27 (.10)**
New area	0.13 (.05)*	0.26 (.06)***	−0.04 (.05)	−0.02 (.05)
New area*Race/ethnicity group: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander	−0.26 (.11)*	−0.47 (.14)**	0.29 (.19)	0.08 (.15)
Exploratory three-way interaction	ns	ns	ns	ns
Documentation assignment sequence
Documentation	0.11 (.05)*	0.15 (.05)**	0.14 (.05)**	0.10 (.05)*
Gender group: Men	0.09 (.08)	−0.06 (.10)	0.05 (.10)	0.07 (.09)
Race/ethnicity group: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander	0.02 (.12)	0.09 (.14)	0.04 (.15)	0.07 (.13)
Constant	2.11 (.27)***	1.14 (.29)***	1.05 (.27)***	1.14 (.26)***
R-square	0.05	0.05	0.13	0.19
Two-way interactions
Documentation	−0.01 (.08)	0.06 (.08)	0.08 (.08)	0.07 (.08)
Documentation*Gender group: Men	0.17 (.09)	0.13 (.10)	0.08 (.09)	0.04 (.09)
Documentation	0.13 (.05)**	0.18 (.05)**	0.13 (.05)**	0.07 (.05)
Documentation*Race/ethnicity group: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander	−0.26 (.11)*	−0.32 (.18)	0.12 (.20)	0.29 (.19)
Exploratory three-way interaction	ns	ns	ns	ns
Skill application assignment sequence
Application	0.08 (.04)*	0.14 (.05)**	0.08 (.05)	0.13 (.04)**
Gender group: Men	0.08 (.08)	−0.06 (.10)	0.05 (.10)	0.07 (.09)
Race/ethnicity group: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander	0.01 (.11)	0.09 (.14)	0.08 (.15)	0.06 (.13)
Constant	2.36 (.22)***	1.48 (.25)***	1.37 (.23)***	1.32 (.22)***
R-square	0.05	0.05	0.12	0.20
Two-way interactions
Application	0.04 (.06)	0.16 (.08)*	0.05 (.08)	0.14 (.07)
Application*Gender group: Men	0.07 (.08)	−0.04 (.09)	0.05 (.09)	−0.02 (.09)
Application	0.10 (.04)*	0.16 (.05)**	0.09 (.05)	0.14 (.05)**
Application*Race/ethnicity group: Black/Latinx/Indigenous/Pacific Islander	−0.13 (.11)	−0.18 (.14)	−0.05 (.17)	−0.08 (.14)
Exploratory three-way interaction	ns	ns	0.72 (.29)*	0.70 (.25)**

***p < .001, **p < .01, *p < .05, ns = not significant.

Visibility-Outcomes listwise–n = 584; New Area-Outcomes listwise-n = 588; Documentation-Outcomes listwise-n = 587; Application-Outcomes listwise-n = 588.

Statistical methods describes RQ2 model sequence. OSM Appendix C lists control coefficients. Only significant coefficients presented for exploratory three-way interactions. Marginal effects for significant interactions reported in text. Significant interaction terms generally increase R-squares by one point (e.g., .05 to .06).