Coloring Representation: Staff Racial Employment Patterns in US Congressional Offices

Ziniel, Curtis E. (2020) Coloring Representation: Staff Racial Employment Patterns in US Congressional Offices. Ethnic and Racial Studies. ISSN 1466-4356 (Accepted for Publication)

Text accepted full paper ERS 10.09.20.docx - Accepted Version Download (496kB)

Abstract

Members of Congress disproportionately employ Black and Hispanic staffers in constituent service positions compared to policy advisory positions. Minority staffers also hold fewer high-level office positions which suggests that they have less overall influence with Members of Congress. I demonstrate these racial employment patterns using a Dirichlet-multinomial likelihood analysis on a novel dataset that includes data on every staff member employed in the offices of over 200 U.S. Representatives during the 108th Congress. This research draws from a more comprehensive sample than previous studies and compares the patterns of both Black and Hispanic staffers. The racial asymmetries found in staff responsibility raise questions about the voice minorities have in the legislative decision-making process in Congress.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article to be published by Taylor & Francis in Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Keywords:	Race, representation, staff, Congress, employment, minority
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Business, Law and Criminology > Liverpool Hope Business School
Depositing User:	Curtis Ziniel
Date Deposited:	11 Sep 2020 11:01
Last Modified:	11 Sep 2020 11:01
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/3145

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