Race- and Class-Based Discrimination in the U.S. Labor Market

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Racial discrimination remains one of the most formidable obstacles to labor market equality in the United States. Black men are only half as likely as white men with similar qualifications to receive a callback for a job interview and they earn just 70 percent of the median income of their white counterparts. The challenge for researchers and policymakers is to understand why employers discriminate against black job applicants. To account for this discrimination, sociologists typically point to racial animus and/or stereotyping on the part of employers. Often overlooked are the subtle forms of class bias also encountered by black Americans as they apply for jobs. In the U.S., conceptions of race and social class are deeply intertwined. Qualitative studies show employers' negative expectations for black Americans often are predicated on the assumption they are lower class; i.e., they have limited access to material and symbolic resources like income, education and high culture. However, whether patterns of racial discrimination intersect with class-based discrimination and may partially explained job discrimination is yet to be demonstrated. The social science literature continues to ignore what may be a key source of racial inequality in the U.S. This project aims to address this gap in current theory and research through a field-experimental study of the social class biases that drive racial discrimination in U.S. employment. This study has three specific research aims. First, it aims to measure whether the racial gap in rates of employer callback diminishes when job applicants signal near-identical (higher or lower) class origins in their résumés. Second, it aims to measure whether the racial gap in callback rates diminishes to a greater degree among women signaling a similar class origin than among men. Third, it aims to measure whether the racial gap in callback rates varies according to the higher- or lower-class origins signaled by applicants in their résumés. To address these research aims, the Principal Investigator will conduct a computerized, résumé-based audit study of employment discrimination in the United States, sending 8,000 fictitious résumés and cover letters to apply for 4,000 job openings in 12 major cities. Employers will be sent, a day apart, two résumés: one résumé signaling that the applicant is black and one résumé signaling that the applicant is white. Both résumés will signal the same gender and the same social-class origin: a higher-class origin, a lower-class origin, or a control origin (with no explicit class signal). Similarity in class origin will be signaled through likenesses in the (1) extracurricular activities and (2) college awards applicants list in their résumés. The Principal Investigator will then track employers' responses to the submitted résumés and, based on these replies, measure how rates of employer callback for white and black applicants vary according to the class signals included in their résumés.