A longitudinal examination of the membership patterns of minorities and women in referral unions

In an examination of the membership patterns of minorities and women in building and nonbuilding trade referral unions between 1969 and 1979, results reveal that variations in referral union membership can be substantially accounted for by race and sex. Longitudinally, no meaningful changes in the racial composition of referral unions exist, while the sexual composition within building and nonbuilding trade union categories change significantly over time. More importantly, however, male / female representation patterns across both referral union categories over the ten-year period remain fairly constant relative to one another.