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

普林斯顿大学西北大学这是一项关于纽约市劳动力市场上对非技术性、入门级工作的招聘歧视的审计研究。该研究评估了对非裔美国男性和有犯罪记录的男性的歧视程度。尽管招聘中的种族歧视问题长期以来一直备受关注，但在美国刑事犯罪激增的背景下，这个话题变得更加紧迫，因为美国40岁以下的非大学黑人男性中有三分之一或更多的人有入狱记录。因此，今天找工作的非熟练黑人面临着种族歧视的负担，以及对有前科的人的歧视。虽然年轻黑人男性中犯罪记录的高发率表明，歧视的影响可能是巨大的，但人们对雇主目前对待没有技能的黑人和有重罪犯前科的求职者的态度知之甚少。在这个项目中，pi将派测试人员到现场申请纽约的入门级工作。测试者有年轻的黑人和白人男性，他们将出示显示长期失业或犯罪记录的简历。人们的兴趣集中在雇主是否以相同的比率召回黑人和白人测试员。将对有前科者和无前科者进行类似的比较。由于简历将被随机分配，黑白测试者将根据他们的简历和其他特征进行匹配，因此研究设计为推断雇主的歧视提供了强有力的依据。该项目复制并详细阐述了由密尔沃基的Devah Pager进行的早期审计研究。最近的研究表明，劳动力市场的不平等主要是由于技能差异而不是歧视，与此相反，密尔沃基的研究提供了种族歧视和对有前科者歧视的惊人证据。在白人中，没有犯罪记录的求职者中有34%被召回，而有犯罪记录的白人中只有17%被召回。在黑人中，14%没有犯罪记录的人被召回，而只有5%有犯罪记录的人被召回。纽约的研究在几个方面超越了密尔沃基的研究。纽约的复制将检验在一个庞大的种族异质劳动力市场中是否存在招聘歧视。目前的设计也允许对种族歧视进行更直接的测试。由于将进行相对大量的审计，目前的研究将使我们能够检查不同职业和行业的歧视可能如何变化。实验设计的强度保证了在理解歧视程度方面的巨大收获，这比之前对社会调查数据的研究要深入得多。这项研究将产生三个更广泛的重大影响。首先，它将为了解纽约劳动力市场歧视的程度提供重要的新线索。许多人认为，目前劳动力市场不平等的模式根源于教育和能力的差异；如果广泛的歧视仍然很明显，这项研究将强调积极执行反歧视法的持续重要性。其次，该项目将包括对学生的广泛培训，向他们介绍研究问题和社会科学分析的实施。第三，该项目产生的数据将提交给大学间政治和社会研究联盟，扩大所有学者研究歧视和不平等的资源。

SES-0317820Bruce WesternPrinceton UniversitySES-0318158Devah PagerNorthwestern 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.