Although the numbers are small, American Indians appear to be concentrated in the social sciences. They are 0.5 percent of social scientists and 0.3 percent or less of other fields. Hispanics are more proportionally represented among fields. They are roughly 2.5 to 3 percent of scientists and engineers in each field. Between 91 and 94 percent of black, Asian, Hispanic, and American Indian scientists and engineers were in the labor force in 1995, compared to 87 percent of white scientists and engineers.
Age differences are part of the explanation.
Among those in similar age groups, the labor force participation rates of white and minority scientists and engineers are similar. Although minorities, for the most part, are less likely to be out of the labor force, among those who are in the labor force, minorities are more likely to be unemployed. The unemployment rate for whites was 2.0 percent, compared with 2.8 percent for Hispanics, 2.4 percent for blacks, and 3.4 percent for Asians. The differences in unemployment rates were evident within fields of science and engineering as well as for science and engineering as a whole. Blacks and American Indians are concentrated in the social sciences, which are less likely to offer employment in business or industry, and are underrepresented in engineering, which is more likely to offer employment in business or industry.