Labor Discrimination in US Economy

Table of Contents Research Methods and Techniques Research Findings Interpretations of the Findings Biasness Recommendations Evidence for Wage Discrimination Works Cited Bertrand and Mullainathan conducted a research on labor discrimination in the US economy. The objective of the researchers was to determine the relationship between racial discrimination and the rate of employment in the US economy. Thus the main question that they tried to address was, â€Å"what is the influence of race in determining the chances of getting a job in the US labor market?†Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Labor Discrimination in US Economy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Research on the employment trends in the US labor market reveals a high level of racial inequality (Bertrand and Mullainathan 991). Members of different races have different opportunities of getting employed. Job applicants of White origin have a bette r chance of getting jobs as compared to African-Americans. The Whites were found â€Å"to be twice unlikely to be unemployed as compared to African-Americans† (Bertrand and Mullainathan 992). The research findings also indicate that African-Americans were â€Å"paid 25% less on average when they are employed in various job categories† (Bertrand and Mullainathan 992). The findings were consistent across all industries. Consequently, various stakeholders in the industry are interested in finding out the causes of the huge gap in employment between the Whites and the African-Americans in the market. It is against this backdrop that the researches investigated the effect of race in determining the chances of getting employed. The findings will help in formulating labor laws that can help in ensuring equality in the market. Equality will lead to efficiency in the market by enhancing perfect mobility of labor. Research Methods and Techniques The researchers used field experi ments to study the research question (Bertrand and Mullainathan 993). The field experiment involved correspondence testing (Bertrand and Mullainathan 993). This means that the researches were interested in finding out the rate at which the employers responded to the resumes that were sent by different races in response to job adverts. Thus the callback rate was the main variable that was measured in the study. The research was done in Chicago and Boston (Bertrand and Mullainathan 993). The research was designed as follows. The researchers prepared several resumes and assigned names to them randomly. Half of the resumes had African-America names and the other half had names that are associated with Whites. The use of different names was meant to â€Å"manipulate the perceived race† (Bertrand and Mullainathan 994). The fictitious resumes were then sent in response to various job adverts in Chicago and Boston (Bertrand and Mullainathan 994). The researchers prepared over five th ousand resumes and responded to over one thousand three hundred job adverts (Bertrand and Mullainathan 994).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The large number of resumes helped in improving the accuracy of the findings since a large sample size is more representative. The resumes were divided into two categories namely, the high-quality and the low-quality resumes. The high-quality resumes were associated with applicants with high qualifications while low-quality resumes were associated with applicants who had low qualification. The high-quality and low-quality resumes were assigned an equal number of names for Whites and African-Americans. The feedbacks that were received in relation to the applications served as the primary data for the research. The data was statistically analyzed and was used to investigate the relationship between race and the chances of getting a job in Boston and Chicago. Research Findings The findings of the research were as follows. There was a great difference in the number of callbacks that were received for the resumes that had various racial names. The applicants that were associated with Whites’ names received one call for every ten resumes that they sent (Bertrand and Mullainathan 995). Those who had African-Americans’ names received one call for every fifteen resumes that they sent. This indicated a 50% gap in the number of calls that were received by the various races. â€Å"The difference was found to be statistically significant† (Bertrand and Mullainathan 995). The research also reveals that race influenced the way employers rewarded the applicants for having better resumes. Whites who had high-quality resumes were able to increase their chances of getting a job by 30 % as compared to the Whites whose resumes were of low-quality (Bertrand and Mullainathan 995). However, for the African-Americans possessing a high-quality resume did not significantly increase the chances of getting a job as compared to African-Americans who had low-quality resumes. This means that the skills that were possessed by the African-Americans had little effect in improving their chances of being employed. Employers preferred to hire White applicants who lived in â€Å"wealthy neighborhoods or neighborhoods that were associated with high levels of education† (Bertrand and Mullainathan 996). However, the African-Americans who lived in the same neighborhood (wealthy) did not have a better chance of being employed as compared to their colleagues who lived in low-class neighborhoods. There was no correlation between the racial gaps that existed in various industry and the census-based racial gaps (Bertrand and Mullainathan 996). The racial gaps as measured by callback rates were â€Å"statically significant in all industries and job categories that were covered in the research† (Bertrand a nd Mullainathan 996).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Labor Discrimination in US Economy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the context of taste theory of discrimination, the researchers explained that their findings indicated that the employers preferred to employ Whites as compared to African-Americans. This means that the employers associated the Whites with superior qualities as compared to the African-Americans. The employers’ preference for the Whites was based on the perception that Whites are a better race as compared to African-Americans. This explains why the possession of high-quality resumes did not improve the chances of getting a job among the African-Americans. In the context of statistical discrimination theory, the employers associated the Whites with high productivity as compared to the African-Americans. Since the employers are not risk takers they prefer to employ Whites who will guar antee them high productivity in exchange of high wage rates. This explains the difference in the wage rate between Whites and the African-Americans. Interpretations of the Findings The resumes that were assigned names that are associated with Whites had a chance of 9.65% of getting a callback (Bertrand and Mullainathan 997). Resumes that had similar qualifications but had names that are associated with African-Americans had 6.5% chance of getting a callback. This indicates a 50% difference in the callback rate (Bertrand and Mullainathan 997). The difference was considered to be statistically significant (Bertrand and Mullainathan 997). The Whites who possessed high-quality resumes were able to increase their chances of getting a job by 27%. On the other hand, the African-Americans who possessed high-quality resumes were able to increase their chances of getting a job by only 6.7%. This difference was also found to be statistically significant. Thus they concluded that race was used as a discrimination factor in employment. Biasness The authors were unbiased due to the following reasons. First, the number of resumes that had names that are associated with Whites was equal to the number of those that had names that are associated with African-Americans. This means that both races had an equal opportunity of being employed. Second, the sample size was large enough to represent the population. Thus the conclusions that were made using the research’s findings are unbiased. Finally, the researchers took into account the effects of demographic factors such as sex, age and residential areas (Bertrand and Mullainathan 1000). Recommendations The conclusion that employers â€Å"inferred social class from names† (Bertrand and Mullainathan 997), was based on opinion rather than empirical evidence. The researchers did not use primary data to statistically investigate the relationship between names and employers’ perception of social classes.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Their conclusion was based on the belief that African-Americans belong to the lower social class in the society. The conclusion also contradicts the fact that living in wealthier neighborhoods did not increase the chances of getting jobs among the African-Americans. Therefore, the researchers should have conducted an investigation in order to determine the relationship between the names and the employers’ perception of social class. For example, interviews or surveys could have been used to obtain information concerning employers’ perception of social class and how it affected their choice of employees. Evidence for Wage Discrimination The findings of the research are consistent with the trends in the US labor market. It is evident that the Whites are paid better as compared to African-Americans who possess the same level of qualification. Employees from the two races are usually paid different wages even if they work in the same position. The research indicated that t he African-Americans did not improve their chances of getting a job by possessing a high-quality resume (Bertrand and Mullainathan 997). This confirms the fact that race plays an important role in determining the chances of getting a job in the US labor market. Works Cited Bertrand, Marianne and Sendhil Mullainathan. â€Å"Are Emily and Greg more employable than Lakisha and Jamal? a field experiment on labor market discrimination.† American Economic Review, 94 (2004): 991-1013. This essay on Labor Discrimination in US Economy was written and submitted by user Emily Stevens to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on Hidden Wars Of Desert Storm

Hidden Wars Of Desert Storm â€Å"Oil is too important to us to allow the Arabs to control† a statement made by Henry Kissinger, Secretary Of State during President Fords Administration. It is a phrase that would be the hidden agenda behind the invasion of Iraq, which led to the Gulf War. Our so called great Democracy and Country has bullied its way to the top of the world economy by exploiting other races and Countries from robbing Native Americans of their land to enslaving Africans and now to stealing Iraq oil all in the name of God and spreading ‘democracy’. In 1991 Iraq invaded Kuwait under the assumption that America would not interfere with the invasion given recent statements at that time by White house representatives, but unknown to Sadams regime and most of the World at that time America had systematically found a way to plot the seed of evil between the two countries and had employed plans on how to counter attack Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait, which would give them a legitimate reason to attack Iraq. Saddam Hussein was made out to be a trigger-happy ruthless dictator by the U.S government with the help of mass media. The American public was led to believe that Saddam Hussein was planning to rule over all the oil in the middle east and spread his terror around the world, which was much like the mind games used on the American public in the 1960’s during the Vietnam war in regard to the Domino effect, and they would be doing a great deal of good by getting rid of this evil dictator who was even using his weapons on his own people. The irony of the story though is that Saddam Hussein was supplied these weapons by America during the Iraq- Iran war and only became a threat to American National Security when he decided to Nationalize his countries oil. Stealing Iraq’s oil was not the only hidden agenda behind the gulf war, American defense contractors and other private arms companies profited immensely from t... Free Essays on Hidden Wars Of Desert Storm Free Essays on Hidden Wars Of Desert Storm Hidden Wars Of Desert Storm â€Å"Oil is too important to us to allow the Arabs to control† a statement made by Henry Kissinger, Secretary Of State during President Fords Administration. It is a phrase that would be the hidden agenda behind the invasion of Iraq, which led to the Gulf War. Our so called great Democracy and Country has bullied its way to the top of the world economy by exploiting other races and Countries from robbing Native Americans of their land to enslaving Africans and now to stealing Iraq oil all in the name of God and spreading ‘democracy’. In 1991 Iraq invaded Kuwait under the assumption that America would not interfere with the invasion given recent statements at that time by White house representatives, but unknown to Sadams regime and most of the World at that time America had systematically found a way to plot the seed of evil between the two countries and had employed plans on how to counter attack Iraq after the invasion of Kuwait, which would give them a legitimate reason to attack Iraq. Saddam Hussein was made out to be a trigger-happy ruthless dictator by the U.S government with the help of mass media. The American public was led to believe that Saddam Hussein was planning to rule over all the oil in the middle east and spread his terror around the world, which was much like the mind games used on the American public in the 1960’s during the Vietnam war in regard to the Domino effect, and they would be doing a great deal of good by getting rid of this evil dictator who was even using his weapons on his own people. The irony of the story though is that Saddam Hussein was supplied these weapons by America during the Iraq- Iran war and only became a threat to American National Security when he decided to Nationalize his countries oil. Stealing Iraq’s oil was not the only hidden agenda behind the gulf war, American defense contractors and other private arms companies profited immensely from t...

Should football managers be sacked when results (on the field) are Essay - 1

Should football managers be sacked when results (on the field) are poor What does your answer tell you about how we should - Essay Example The models influence two different leadership succession theories that will come in handy in the discussion of the subject matter. The two leadership succession theories are vicious cycle theory and common sense theory. The two theories give different relationship of leadership succession and performance of the organization thereby providing the basis for and sacking unsuccessful managers. The integration provides great context to explain the effect of leadership succession. The common sense theory holds that the performance of an organisation will improve when an organization sacks an unsuccessful leader. This indicates that the managers are hired to control the performance of a firm and hence are responsible for good performance. According to the resource dependence theory, the manager has control over the performance of the organisation since he has the ability to start or terminate actions at his discretion. The managers bring on board resources, information and legitimacy. This results if the organization sacks a manager with poor results and hires one with the right mix of resources, the performance will improve. This therefore roots for the sacking of the manager since he is to blame for the organization’s poor performance and hire a manager who has the right mix of resources to spur good performance in the subsequent time period. This thus provides the basis for sacking unsuccessful managers (Soebbing & Washington 2011). The other leadership succession theory is the vicious cycle theory, whose underlying support is organizational learning. The vicious cycle holds that succession in leadership naturally disrupts the organization leading to poor performance. Organization learning provides that for an organization to improve its performance there should be strategic renewal, which focuses on the whole organization not just the managers. The model disregards that managers are an important component, which determine how well the organization is run an d how well information diffused to the lower offices and employees. Organization learning holds that when a poorly performing leader is sacked the performance of the team becomes even poorer. This thus supports the vicious theory that poor performance in an organization leads to organizational change but lower performance is a result of change (Soebbing & Washington 2011). This paper will not use institutional theory in arguing the subject matter at hand since it supports the ritual scapegoat theory. The ritual scapegoat theory holds that there is no relationship between leadership succession in an organization and the performance of the organization. From this perspective the leader is only a symbol and does not influence the performance of the organization. This promotes that change is undertaken to promote social constructs, therefore going contrary to the main market consideration that change is undertaken in the search for performance gains. A non-performing manager should be s acked since a new manager spurs immediate short-term reprieve. Of nine studies scrutinizing six countries that included England and Spain, showed that replacing a poorly performing manager does improve the on-field performance of the club. This leads to increase in the club’s short-term performance when a new manager is appointed. The sacking is usually based