Collaborative Research: Discrimination in Low-Wage Labor Markets: An Audit Study for New York City

Princeton University, Princeton NJ

Investigators

Abstract

SES-0317820 Bruce Western Princeton University SES-0318158 Devah Pager Northwestern University This is an audit study of hiring discrimination in the labor market for unskilled, entry-level, jobs in New York City. The research assesses the extent of discrimination against African American men and men with criminal records. Although the issue of race discrimination in hiring has been of longstanding interest, the topic has acquired renewed urgency in the context of the U.S. penal boom that has given prison records to a third or more of non-college black men under age 40. Unskilled black men seeking work today thus face the burden of race discrimination, and discrimination against ex-felons. While the high prevalence of criminal records among young black men suggests the effects of discrimination may be substantial, little is known about employers current treatment of unskilled black and ex-felon job candidates. In this project the PIs will send testers into the field to apply for entry-level jobs in New York. The testers, young black and white men, will present resumes that show evidence of a long spell of unemployment or a criminal record. Interest focuses on whether employers call back black and white testers at the same rate. Similar comparisons will be made for ex-offenders and non-offenders. Because resumes will be randomly allocated, and black and white testers will be matched on their resumes and other characteristics, the research design provides a strong basis for inferring discrimination by employers. This project replicates and elaborates an earlier audit study conducted by Devah Pager in Milwaukee. In contrast to recent research suggesting that labor market inequality is due mostly to differences in skills rather than discrimination, the Milwaukee study provided striking evidence of race discrimination and discrimination against ex- offenders. Among whites, 34 percent of job applicants without criminal records received callbacks compared to just 17 percent of whites who reported criminal records. Among blacks, 14 percent without criminal records received callbacks compared to just 5 percent with criminal records. The New York study goes beyond the Milwaukee research in several ways. The New York replication will examine whether hiring discrimination can be found in a large ethnically heterogeneous labor market. The current design also admits a more direct test of race discrimination. Because a relatively large number of audits will be conducted, the current research will allow us to examine how discrimination might vary across occupations and industries. The strength of experimental design promises large gains in understanding the extent of discrimination that goes significantly further than the previous study of social survey data. This research will have three significant broader impacts. First, it will shed important new light on the extent of labor market discrimination in New York. Many contend that current patterns of labor market inequality are rooted in differences in education and ability; if extensive discrimination is still evident, this research will underline the continuing importance of active enforcement of anti-discrimination law. Second, the project will involve extensive training of students, introducing them to the research problems and implementation of social science analysis. Third, the data generated by this project will be lodged with the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, broadening the resources available to all scholars for research on discrimination and inequality.