Immigrants and Passive Representation in the U.S. Public Service: 2000-2018

• Author: Christopher A. Simon,Michael C. Moltz
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00953997221147239
• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Date: 01 March 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/00953997221147239

Administration & Society

2023, Vol. 55(3) 405 –427

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/00953997221147239

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Article

Immigrants and Passive

Representation in the

U.S. Public Service:

2000-2018

Christopher A. Simon1

and Michael C. Moltz2

Abstract

Representative bureaucracy has been a prominent construct in U.S.

governance literature for more than three quarters of a century. Passive

representation is an important first step toward active representation.

Using a repeated cross-sectional design, we find that immigrant status and

accompanying multigenerational effects impact the likelihood of employment

in the public sector. The barrier of immigrant status and multigenerational

effects are likely compounded by the educational achievement barrier

associated with growing professionalism in the public sector.

Keywords

representative bureaucracy, immigrant citizens, public administration

Introduction

Representative bureaucracy research is of critical concern to many scholars

in Western democracies (Hambleton, 2015, p. 140; Meier & Morton, 2015)

as an era of mass migration impacts governance (see Methmann & Oels,

1University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

2Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania, Shippensburg, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Christopher A. Simon, University of Utah, 260 S Central Campus Drive, Salt Lake City,

UT 84112, USA.

Email: simon@mpa.utah.edu

1147239AAS0010.1177/00953997221147239Administration & SocietySimon and Moltz

research-article2022

406 Administration & Society 55(3)

2015; Panizzon & van Riemsdijk, 2019). The effects of rising populist ten-

dencies have run counter to the need for adaptive and inclusive democratic

institutions (see Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2012; Norris & Inglehart, 2019). The

Trump era revealed deep-seated anti-bureaucratic (Simon & Moltz, 2022)

and anti-immigrant attitudes (Lovrich et al., 2021), the combined effect pos-

sibly serving as barriers to immigrant entry into career civil service positions

(see also Wadhia, 2019).

The United States is a nation of immigrants (see Dunbar-Ortiz, 2021; see

8 U.S.C. §1101), a claim made with greater confidence today than at any time

in the last century (Congressional Research Service, 2021). Between 14%

and 16% of native-born individuals in the U.S. worked for government dur-

ing the nearly 20-year period under study; yet, between 7% and 10% of for-

eign-born individuals were similarly employed (U.S. Census, 2000, seriatim

through 2019).1 Merit-based public service employment has not kept pace

with changes in national demographics, countering claims that public service

could be a major first step to greater immigrant representation in U.S. democ-

racy (see Hawes, 2021). The situation might be explained in part by the

“graying” of the public service, particularly at the Federal level (Vinik, 2017);

hiring preferences for native-born individuals in public service; work prefer-

ences (Marchiori et al., 2018); and, the professionalization of the public sec-

tor with accompanying higher educational achievement requirements for

many positions (Pynes, 2013, pp. 6–7).

Perceptions of government might shape an individual’s work preferences.

Gravier and Roth (2020, p. 5) identify the “possibility that an offer of repre-

sentation might be rejected,” possibly reflecting skepticism or distrust of

government enterprise. That is to say, the perceived legitimacy and fairness

of governing institutions shape the pursuit of public sector employment

(Gravier & Roth, 2020, p. 18; Headley et al., 2021). Historically, immigrants

in Western democracies have often been greeted by discrimination and dis-

trust by native-born and frequently White individuals. The latter often main-

tained higher social and economic standing in communities and, in some

cases, wielded positions of power within democratic institutions (see McLaren

et al., 2021). Anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy directions have a demon-

strable impact on an immigrant’s sense of exclusion from politics and society,

contributing to feelings of not belonging—feelings that may extend beyond

immigrants to first- and second-generation descendants (Simonsen, 2021);

hence, multigenerational effects.

Building on the above-referenced findings, our research question is: Do

immigrant status and accompanying multigenerational effects impact the

likelihood of employment in the public sector? While studies have explored

issues related to representation along the lines of gender, race, and ethnicity,