Chapter 12 Gender Race and Ethnicity Gender wage

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Chapter 12: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity

Chapter 12: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity

Gender wage differences • Full-time female workers have weekly earnings that are approximately 75%

Gender wage differences • Full-time female workers have weekly earnings that are approximately 75% of the weekly earnings of full-time male workers.

Reasons for gender wage differences • • • educational attainment, prior work experience, average

Reasons for gender wage differences • • • educational attainment, prior work experience, average weekly hours of work, occupational choice, and discrimination.

Discrimination • Discrimination exists if wage is related to factors other than a worker’s

Discrimination • Discrimination exists if wage is related to factors other than a worker’s productivity.

Occupational segregation • index of dissimilarity - a measure of the proportion of one

Occupational segregation • index of dissimilarity - a measure of the proportion of one group that would have to change occupations to equalize the gender proportions in occupations.

Racial earnings differences • black/white wage gap is larger than the gender wage gap,

Racial earnings differences • black/white wage gap is larger than the gender wage gap, • this gap cannot be explained by differences in occupational choice, • very different patterns of employment, labor force participation, and unemployment rates, • differences in cognitive ability (as measured by the AFQT) appear to explain much of the gap.

Ethnic differences in earnings • primarily appears to be due to differences in human

Ethnic differences in earnings • primarily appears to be due to differences in human capital and language proficiency.

Theories of discrimination • • employer discrimination, customer discrimination, employee discrimination, and statistical discrimination.

Theories of discrimination • • employer discrimination, customer discrimination, employee discrimination, and statistical discrimination.

Noncompetitive models of discrimination • crowding, and • dual labor markets.

Noncompetitive models of discrimination • crowding, and • dual labor markets.

Search-related monopsony • the existence of discriminatory employers raises the expected cost of job

Search-related monopsony • the existence of discriminatory employers raises the expected cost of job search for members of groups that are the targets of discrimination, • this results in an upward sloping labor supply curve for members of the affected group, • leading to MFC > w and some degree of monopsony power.

Legal restrictions • Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal to offer different

Legal restrictions • Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal to offer different pay to men and women performing the same tasks. (It did not, however, prohibit discrimination in hiring or promotion. ) • Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 filled in this gap by prohibiting discriminatory hiring practices. • disparate treatment • disparate impact

Comparable worth • jobs are assigned “points” according to a variety of criteria, •

Comparable worth • jobs are assigned “points” according to a variety of criteria, • pay is based on the number of points.

Federal Contract Compliance Program • created in 1965 to ensure that firms doing business

Federal Contract Compliance Program • created in 1965 to ensure that firms doing business with the federal government engage in nondiscriminatory employment behavior. • firms doing business with the federal government are required to maintain a mix of workers that is proportionate to their representation in the relevant labor market.