Linguistic occupation segregation along the U.S.–Mexico border: using the index of dissimilarity to measure inequality in employment among monolingual speakers and Spanish–English bilinguals

The U.S.–Mexico border is a Latina/o concentrated region and Spanish–English bilingual society. While there are some indications of an economic advantage associated with Spanish–English bilingualism in regions with over-representations of Spanish-origin speakers, the degree of occupational linguistic segregation in such ethno-linguistic context is unknown. Based on data from the American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) for 2018, this study calculates the occupational dissimilarity index (D) among monolingual-Spanish speakers, Spanish–English bilinguals, and monolingual-English speakers for cities located along the Texas–Mexico border and in the Houston metropolis. Findings show that the highest occupational segregation is found between monolingual-Spanish speakers and both monolingual-English and Spanish–English bilinguals. This indicates that the monolingual-Spanish workforce is occupationally segregated from those with fluent command of English. The lowest occupation dissimilarity indices are between Spanish–English bilinguals and monolingual-English speakers, indicating that these groups are approaching similar occupational placements. I conclude by highlighting an occupational advantage to Spanish–English bilingualism, but only in border cities characterised by concentrations of Spanish-origin speakers. In the non-border city of Houston, being Spanish–English bilingual is not enough to experience occupational upward mobility.

Is Bray-Curtis differentiation meaningful in Molecular Ecology?

A popular measure of differentiation in biodiversity is the Bray Curtis index of dissimilarity. It has recently also been proposed for use in molecular ecology. However, this measure currently cannot be predicted under specified conditions of population size, dispersal and speciation or mutation. Here I show forecasts for Bray-Curtis for two-variant systems such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (or two species ecosystems). These are derived from well-known equations in population genetics, for forecasting measures such as G_ST, and shown to be appropriate by simulation. Thus, Bray-Curtis can now be used for assessment of differentiation, in order to understand natural or artificial processes, thus complementing other measures with different sensitivities, such as Morisita-Horn/D_EST, G_ST and Shannon Mutual Information/Shannon Differentiation.

Black-White Disparities in Pediatric Asthma in Metropolitan Areas, 2015: Assessing the Roles of Residential Inequality and Segregation

Little research has explored how black-white residential inequality and residential segregation are associated and moderate black-white disparities in pediatric asthma. This paper contributes to this limited literature by using data for children in the 2015 American Housing Survey Metropolitan samples. Controlling for black-white inequalities in residential characteristics, segregation, demographic, and socioeconomic characteristics, we find that the black-white disparity in pediatric asthma remains and slightly widens. We also find that the level of segregation, as measured by the index of dissimilarity and black isolation, moderates the association between children’s race and asthma. In areas with lower levels of dissimilarity and black isolation, whites’ predicted probabilities of asthma are greater than those of black children. However, when the index of dissimilarity is at least 60% and the black isolation is at least 50%, the racial disparity reverses, and black children’s predicted probabilities of asthma are significantly higher than those of whites.

Inequality in the distribution of ear, nose and throat specialists in 15 Latin American countries: an ecological study

ObjectiveTo explore sociogeographical inequalities in the availability and distribution of ear, nose and throat specialists (ENTs) in 15 Latin American (LA) countries.DesignEcological.SettingSpanish and Portuguese-speaking countries of LA.The number of registered ENTs in 2017 was obtained from the National ENT Society in each country.Outcome measuresThe ENT rate/million population was calculated at the national and subnational (eg, state) level. Three measures were calculated to assess subnational distributive inequality of ENTs: (1) absolute and (2) relative index of dissimilarity; and (3) concentration index (using the Human Development Index as the equity stratifier). Finally, the ratio of ENTs/million population in the capital area compared with the rest of the country was calculated.ResultsThere was more than a 30-fold difference in the number of ENTs/million population across the included countries—from 61.0 in Argentina (95% CI 58.7 to 63.4) to 2.8 in Guatemala (95% CI 2.1 to 3.8). In all countries, ENTs were more prevalent in advantaged areas and in capital areas. To attain distributive equality, Paraguay would need to redistribute the greatest proportion of its ENT workforce (67.3%; 95% CI 57.8% to 75.6%) and Brazil the least (18.5%; 95% CI 17.6% to 19.5%).ConclusionsThere is high inequality in the number and distribution of ENTs between and within the 15 studied countries in LA. This evidence can be used to inform policies that improve access to ear and hearing services in the region, such as scale-up of training of ENTs and incentives to distribute specialists equally. These actions to reduce inequities, alongside addressing the social determinants of ear and hearing health, are essential to realise Universal Health Coverage.

Indigenous residential segregation in towns and cities, 1976–2016

Indigenous people tend to live in different parts of Australian towns and cities than the non-Indigenous population. This is due to a combination of historic and contemporary government policies, the agency of Indigenous people, and the constraints placed on residential location by the interaction of the housing and labour markets. This study traces the trajectory of Indigenous residential segregation in 60 Australian towns and cities, using census data from 1976 to 2016. Segregation is measured using the index of dissimilarity and the threshold method. Indigenous residential segregation has been declining steadily since 1976 nationally. However, there has been a great deal of variation in segregation trajectories among towns and cities. In Sydney and Melbourne, segregation remained relatively high over the study period. The level of segregation in 1976 appears to be related to the geographical remoteness of the town, with remote towns generally having lower levels of segregation in 1976. Segregation has been decreasing most rapidly in regional towns in New South Wales and Queensland. Finally, this study has found a long-run increase in the proportion of Indigenous residents living in highly Indigenous neighbourhoods, consistent with the increasingly close settlement of Indigenous people in Australian towns and cities. This trend is at odds with the apparent decrease in segregation found when segregation is measured using the index of dissimilarity. Detailed case studies may be required that examine how concrete historical geographies and policy legacies combine with contemporary housing markets to produce the configuration of segregation that we see today.

The Measurement of Neighborhood Socioeconomic Characteristics and Hispanic and Non-Hispanic White Residential Segregation in Metropolitan Detroit

In the United States, past research has shown that Hispanics are less residentially segregated from non-Hispanic Whites than are Blacks. Such research has also shown that like Blacks, Hispanic households are located in poorer neighborhoods than are the average lower-income non-Hispanic White households. However, such studies have been limited for two reasons: (1) they have used a single variable, income, to characterize neighborhoods which is not sufficient to capture the complexity of such areas; and (2) such studies have not focused on Metropolitan Detroit where, unlike in many other large metropolitan areas, the Hispanic population is relatively small and concentrated within a large majority Black central city. This is the first study to examine Hispanic–non-Hispanic White residential segregation and the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods in Metropolitan Detroit using multiple variables to characterize neighborhoods. The Modified Darden-Kamel Composite Socioeconomic Index was used to characterize neighborhoods and the index of dissimilarity was employed to measure Hispanic–non-Hispanic White residential segregation. The results revealed that the level of Hispanic—non-Hispanic White residential segregation was modest, but Hispanics were restricted to neighborhoods that are of lower quality than neighborhoods occupied by non-Hispanic Whites.

Measuring Geographic and Wealth Inequalities in Health Distribution as Tools for Identifying Priority Health Inequalities and the Underprivileged Populations

Background Currently, there is no consensus on standard measure that can be routinely part of the health information systems to alert countries to inequalities in health and identify the priority health inequality conditions. Objectives To identify the health inequality measures relevant for assessing geographic and wealth inequalities; use the measures as a demonstration to what can happen in practice to recognize the geographic and wealth-related priority health inequalities within a country; and identify the geographic and wealth underprivileged populations. Method Egypt data were used as demonstration. Pearson coefficient of correlation was calculated to compare the various geographic and wealth health inequality measures. T test was used to identify significant correlations. The relevant inequality measures were used to rank geographic and wealth health inequalities and identify the underprivileged populations. Results The wealth inequalities in health measured by the concentration index provide a familiar and perform adequately in identifying economic inequalities in health. However, the geographic health inequalities identified by the index of dissimilarity appear to provide a more comprehensive profile of health inequalities within a country. Conclusion There is a need for a feasible inequality measure in the health information systems. A country’s geographic health distribution measured by the index of dissimilarity appears to provide a feasible first-step alarm to inform and guide the uptake of equity-sensitive policies.

Implementing a Multilevel Index of Dissimilarity in R with a case study of the changing scales of residential ethnic segregation in England and Wales

This paper introduces the Multilevel Index of Dissimilarity package, which provides tools and functions to fit a Multilevel Index of Dissimilarity in the open source software, R. It extends the conventional Index of Dissimilarity to measure both the amount and geographic scale of segregation, thereby capturing the two principal dimensions of segregation, unevenness and clustering. The statistical basis for the multilevel approach is discussed, making connections to other work in the field and looking especially at the relationships between the Index of Dissimilarity, variance as a measure of segregation, and the partitioning of the variance to identify scale effects. A brief tutorial for the package is provided followed by a case study of the scales of residential segregation for various ethnic groups in England and Wales. Comparing 2001 with 2011 Census data, we find that patterns of segregation are emerging at less localised geographical scales but the Index of Dissimilarity is falling. This is consistent with a process whereby minority groups have spread out into more ethnically mixed neighbourhoods.