I have a bit of a weird job for several reasons, but for one,
many of my colleagues varied ideological commitments are pretty clear due to the nature of our work.
But I was curious about what workplaces look like in less overtly political places.
Do people often know the political opinions of their colleagues and bosses?
Could work be a place for the healthy mixing of people with different partisan identities?
Probably not.
At least that's what I take away from a new paper called Political Sorting in the US Labor Market,
which argues that political segregation is extremely common in the workplace.
According to the authors,
a Democrat
or Republican's co worker is 10% more likely to share their party
than what you might expect based on where their workplace is located.
Why?
Well, it's largely.
Largely because workers are opting into college majors, jobs,
industries, and companies that correspond with their partisan identities.
Republicans are more likely to have studied business, finance, engineering, and technology,
while Democrats are more likely to have studied the arts, social sciences, and the humanities.
Industries themselves are therefore more likely to have employees of one party rather
than the other.