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

这是一项关于纽约市劳动力市场上非熟练、入门级工作的雇佣歧视的审计研究。这项研究评估了对非洲裔美国人和有犯罪记录的人的歧视程度。尽管招聘中的种族歧视问题一直受到人们的关注，但在美国刑事热潮的背景下，这个话题变得更加紧迫，因为美国有三分之一或更多的40岁以下的非大学黑人男性有入狱记录。 因此，今天寻找工作的无技能黑人男性面临着种族歧视和对前重罪犯的歧视的负担。虽然年轻黑人男性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非熟练黑人和前重罪犯求职者的方式知之甚少。 在这个项目中，PI将派遣测试人员到现场申请纽约的入门级工作。测试者是年轻的黑人和白色男性，他们将出示简历，证明长期失业或有犯罪记录。人们的兴趣集中在雇主是否以同样的速度召回黑人和白色测试员。将对前罪犯和非罪犯进行类似的比较。 由于简历将被随机分配，黑人和白色测试者将在简历和其他特征上进行匹配，因此研究设计为推断雇主的歧视提供了强有力的基础。 本项目复制并详细阐述了Devah Pager在密尔沃基进行的早期审计研究。 与最近的研究表明劳动力市场不平等主要是由于技能差异而不是歧视形成对比的是，密尔沃基的研究提供了种族歧视和对前科犯歧视的惊人证据。在白人中，34%没有犯罪记录的求职者收到了回电，而只有17%的白人报告了犯罪记录。在黑人中，14%没有犯罪记录的人收到了回电，而只有5%有犯罪记录。 纽约的研究在几个方面超越了密尔沃基的研究。纽约的复制将研究在一个种族多样的大型劳动力市场中是否存在招聘歧视。目前的设计还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研究不同职业和行业之间的歧视情况。实验设计的优势保证了在理解歧视程度方面的巨大收益，这比以前对社会调查数据的研究要远得多。这项研究将产生三个重要的更广泛的影响。首先，它将为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，目前的劳动力市场不平等的模式是植根于教育和能力的差异，如果广泛的歧视仍然是显而易见的，这项研究将强调积极执行反歧视法的持续重要性。第二，该项目将涉及对学生的广泛培训，向他们介绍研究问题和社会科学分析的实施。第三，该项目生成的数据将提交给大学间政治和社会研究联盟，扩大所有学者可用于歧视和不平等研究的资源。

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.