Minority women in executive and managerial positions are receiving promotions and building a foundation of networks that could help secure their future progress up the corporate ladder, a new study has found.

The study "Women of Color in Corporate Management: Three Years Later" is based on follow-up surveys with 368 of the 1,735 women who participated in a 1999 report with the same title.

The latest study found that since the 1999 report, more than half of the black, Asian-American and Hispanic women surveyed were promoted at least once. The participants' salaries also increased an average of 40 percent in the three-year period between the surveys. Only one percent of those surveyed reported any downward moves.

A 1997 report from Catalyst indicated that minority women make up 10 percent of the U.S. work force of 127 million, yet hold only 5 percent of the total 7.5 million management jobs. White women make up 86 percent of female managers, while blacks make up just 7 percent, Hispanics 5 percent and Asian-Americans 2.5 percent.

"There has been genuine progress along a number of parameters," said Sheila Wellington, president of Catalyst, the New York-based research organization that released the report.

Despite the good news, the survey also found that women of color are now less optimistic about their prospects for advancement. According to the study, respondents said that barriers to career progress continue to exist, namely a lack of access to influential people, difficulty getting the choicest assignments and a glass ceiling that prevents upward mobility.

"There's a perception on the part of women of color that the playing field isn't level," Wellington said. "There's a feeling that women can go so high and no higher." Wellington said that some of the pessimism might also stem from the downturn in the economy, which has tainted many people's sense of hopefulness.

Nevertheless, women of color appear to be working harder to develop the relationships that could pay an important role in securing their future progress.

While women in both surveys cited the lack of a mentor as the number one obstacle to advancement, in the recent study 58 percent of the respondents said they had mentors, compared with just 35 percent in the previous survey. And, 49 percent of the participants cited networking as an important factor in success, up from only 29 percent three years ago.

Wellington said this finding reflects an increased willingness among mentors to extend a helping hand to women of color as well as a greater awareness among the women of the importance of developing these relationships.

Catalyst will release a census on the number of women of color who are corporate officers this fall.