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We examine long-run differences in intergenerational occupational
mobility between Black and White Americans using linked censuses
and survey data from 1850 to 2021. We document two main results.
First, shifts in mobility dynamics, most notably for the
1940–1950 cohort, reshaped occupational structures and reduced
racial segregation. Second, new measures of intergenerational persistence
reveal both bottlenecks and the enduring memory in the
mobility system, offering new perspectives on the role of mobility
in explaining the lack of convergence in Black-White occupational
outcomes.
