I'm curious how others in this group would define "minority" in ACS or PEP terms if asked to do so.
Background: We're running into an issue with some of our data tools which previously relied on single-year-of-age (SYA) bridged-race data from NCHS. Since those special tabs have been discontinued, I've started using the SYA "by special request only" data from the Population Estimates Program. Unfortunately, instead of the four bridged races in the NCHS data, the PEP data has 11 -- five each in the "alone" and "alone or in combination" groups, plus "two or more races". In both data collections, Hispanic is coded separately.
Previously we defined the "minority" as the total population minus the white non-Hispanic population. However, we now have to choose between two options (and there may be others):
1. total minus (white alone and non-Hispanic), or
2. total minus (white alone or in combination with other races and non-Hispanic).
As you can probably guess, option 1 gives a larger minority count, sometimes by as much as 4-5%. Also, the "alone or in combination groups" can overlap, so I'm concerned that using option 2 would result in some minority people being counted in the non-minority group.
Are there other approaches to defining "minority" that you use? I realize it can be a slippery concept, so I'm interested how others have tackled it in their own work.
1 is absolutely right! Sorry thought I had answered already. The short story is that you can’t use “White alone or in combination” as you can and should with other racial groups because a combination in…
1 is absolutely right! Sorry thought I had answered already. The short story is that you can’t use “White alone or in combination” as you can and should with other racial groups because a combination in itself would be diverse by any thoughtful standard I know. There’s a movement to reconsider — some think it’s worth pointing out that Alone Or in Combination White population is still growing even if even White Alone, non-Hispanic population has shrunk. Look up reports on “The Great Demographic Illusion.” It’s debatable but I haven’t seen a clear argument for making that the standard for non-minority population. You’d be including people who are clearly subject to racial discrimination like, say, Barack Obama.—Tim Henderson