Discrimination in a low-wage labor market Pager, Devah; Western, Bruce; Bonikowski, Bart
American sociological review,
10/2009, Volume:
74, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Decades of racial progress have led some researchers and policymakers to doubt that discrimination remains an important cause of economic inequality. To study contemporary discrimination, we ...conducted a field experiment in the low-wage labor market of New York City, recruiting white, black, and Latino job applicants who were matched on demographic characteristics and interpersonal skills. These applicants were given equivalent résumés and sent to apply in tandem for hundreds of entry-level jobs. Our results show that black applicants were half as likely as equally qualified whites to receive a callback or job offer. In fact, black and Latino applicants with clean backgrounds fared no better than white applicants just released from prison. Additional qualitative evidence from our applicants' experiences further illustrates the multiple points at which employment trajectories can be deflected by various forms of racial bias. These results point to the subtle yet systematic forms of discrimination that continue to shape employment opportunities for low-wage workers.
•Using gravity models and 2001-2021 data, we study nurse migration drivers and the influence of health and economic shocks.•Health-related shocks in origin countries lead to a decline in nurse ...migration flows.•While economic crises in origin countries push more nurse migration, recessions at destination reduce the number of arrivals.•When health shocks are preceded by recessions origin countries struggle to cope with the increase in healthcare demand.•The study shows substantial heterogeneity across geographical regions in terms of the drivers of nurse migration.•Nurses are generally attracted to the OECD destinations by the better institutional and labour market conditions.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the global shortage of nurses and doctors, highlighting the need for countries to aim for greater self-sufficiency in their health workforce rather than relying on foreign recruitment to meet excess demand. By using gravity models and taking advantage of rich data over the period 2001–2021, we examine the determinants of qualified nurse migration to OECD countries and investigate how macroeconomic imbalances impact nursing labour markets across time and place. We find evidence that economic recession in origin countries can lead to an increased loss of medical personnel, which could worsen the nurse deficit there. Source countries are particularly vulnerable to a nurse deficit if a recession is followed by a health shock that increases the demand for healthcare. However, a health shock temporarily reduces the number of nurses leaving and hence decreases the number of incoming nurses in destination countries. Recessions in destination countries reduce the number of arriving nurses there. Our study also captures the role of place in nurse migration by investigating heterogeneity in nurse migration across the main geographic source regions worldwide.
•The distribution function of global production networks (GPNs) is examined.•Labor market intermediaries negotiate the relationship between the local labor market and GPN.•A hierarchy of contingent ...employment relationships shapes workers’ attachment to GPNs.•Places do not simply provide “local context” but causal powers that shape GPN insertion into locales.
An enduring focus of scholarly work on global production networks (GPNs) is the process of insertion into production networks and the capacity of places to shape their manner of inclusion. Sometimes overlooked are ways in which these insertions are based on an evolving set of exclusions. A disarticulations perspective trains our attention on the mutual interplay between moments of inclusion and exclusion that produce uneven geographies and histories of development, foregrounding place-specific factors and offering a framework for understanding local experimentation. Firms continue to restructure under relentless pressure to improve performance and the concomitant need to experiment, causing firm strategy to shape-shift and re-making relations of inclusion and exclusion. In the distribution function of global supply chains, the prevailing value-creation strategy is downward pressure on the cost of labor, but this perhaps suggests a false sense of stability. Using data gathered in the distribution hub just outside of Chicago, I examine the role of labor market intermediaries in re-negotiating the boundaries of inclusion. This article explores processes of linking and delinking subsets of workers and the differential implications for worker segments and their attachment to the supply chain. Inscribed in the absorption of places and workers into GPNs are ongoing processes of disarticulation, evident in this case through the labor market strategies pursued by local firms and temporary staffing agencies. These processes lay bare the mechanisms that reproduce capital-labor relationships in global supply chains.
This paper combines an input-output model and a novel regional labour market matching model in order to identify potential bottlenecks in regional labour markets resulting from shocks in demand ...caused by the energy transition. Identifying these bottlenecks provides relevant information for policymakers to determine in which regions and industries policy intervention in labour markets may be needed to ensure a smooth transformation. We analyse the effects of a shock that is illustrative for the energy transition in the Netherlands. Our results indicate that the aim of the Dutch government to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions may, at least in the short run, be hampered by bottlenecks in labour markets.
Objective: The objective of the article is the identification and assessment of labour market operation efficiency and stability of matching mechanisms from the microstructure perspective of labour ...market dynamics via the relationship between distortions in the level and slope of the Beveridge curve. We studied the US labour market dynamics and identified potential structural changes in the job matching mechanisms. The long-term relationship between the level and slope of the Beveridge curve suggested that the underlying level of unemployment matched the labour market’s elasticity in response to changes in job vacancies. Research Design & Methods: The main design of our article was a quantitative analysis of the Beveridge curve shifts. We used a data set consisting of monthly information on job vacancies and the unemployment rate of the US labour market from 2000 to 2022. Using a dynamic rolling scheme with a fixed window size, we extracted time series parameters of the Beveridge curve. We then proceed to apply the VECM(1) model to establish the relationship between these parameters. Findings: We have found the stability of the matching mechanism in the long term and the relatively weaker or instantaneous adjustment mechanisms in the short term. We also addressed the absence of evidence regarding Granger causality and its implications. Implications & Recommendations: The identification of elasticity of the Beveridge curve should guide policymakers towards integrated and adaptive strategies that address both structural and dynamic aspects of the labour market. Regular monitoring and evaluation will be crucial to ensuring that policies remain effective in the evolving economic landscape. Contribution & Value Added: Unlike previous literature on the subject, which primarily relied on static analyses and limited time frames, we took a pioneering step by incorporating monthly data on job vacancies and unemployment rate spanning over two decades, from 2000 to 2022. This inclusion allowed us to encompass the period of the COVID-19 outbreak, providing a comprehensive understanding of the matching mechanism’s behaviour as a cornerstone for entrepreneurship during times of extraordinary economic stress.
•Analyses the effects of labour market dualities on aggregate wage growth.•Investigates changes in the determinants of wage growth after the crisis.•Provides an encompassing discussion of wage ...setting theories.
The drivers of wage growth in Europe are insufficiently understood. I argue that the institutional structure of labour markets – particularly labour market dualities – improve our understanding of the determinants of wage growth. This also helps to understand the period of a secular decline in wage growth after the crisis. Using data for the member states of the EU from Q1 2004 to Q4 2016, I demonstrate that there is a negative effect of the incidence of temporary contracts on overall wage growth. Further, I am able to show that it has considerably increased since the global financial crisis.
While migration has made cities more super-diverse than ever, artists with migrant backgrounds are underrepresented in the creative and cultural industries. Although existing literature pays ...attention to minorities' unequal labour market access, the question of how the careers and working conditions of artists with a migrant background play out in local cultural labour markets remains underexplored. Based on the case of the performing arts sector in Brussels, I outline the factors that explain the gap in cultural labour market representation between ethnic minorities and the white majority population. I contend that minority artists have more difficulties in entering the cultural labour market than native artists because they face structural and personal hurdles throughout their careers. Furthermore, I show that minority artists develop various strategies to overcome these barriers. This paper uncovers the mechanisms that contribute to the emergence and persistence of this "creative mismatch" in local cultural labour markets.
In recent decades, economic policy makers across Europe have sought to increase labour market flexibility by promoting the use of temporary employment. The articles in this Feature provide new ...results on how fixed-term and agency work contracts affect firm productivity and how the segments of two-tier labour markets interact. This article points to a possible trade-off between efficiency and equity when deregulating labour markets. Taken together, the evidence presented in this Feature suggests that flexible forms of employment can be both a boon and a bane for labour markets and for society as a whole.
In the current scenario, data scientists are expected to make sense of vast stores of big data, which are becoming increasingly complex and heterogeneous in nature. In the context of today's rapid ...technological development and its application in a growing array of fields, this role is evolving simultaneously. The present study provides an insight into the current expectations of employers seeking to hire individuals with this job title. It is argued that gaining a better understanding of data scientists’ employability criteria and the evolution of this professional role is crucial. The focus is placed on the desired prerequisites articulated through job advertisements, thus deriving relevant means for furthering theory and practice. It was achieved by harvesting relevant data from job advertisements published on US employment websites, which currently attract the US market's highest recruitment traffic. The key contribution of this study is to have identified means of systematically mapping skills, experience, and qualifications sought by employers for their data scientists, thus providing a data-driven pathway for employability and avoiding skills gaps and mismatches in a profession that is pivotal in the Industry 4.0.
This article aims to empirically explore how European labour markets are segmented and who the outsiders are. The article moves beyond the dichotomous approach to understanding labour market ...division, often based solely on examining employment relationships. Taking a multi-dimensional approach to defining labour market precariousness, this study incorporates aspects such as income, job prospects and subjective insecurity. Latent Class Analysis is used on data taken from the 2015 European Working Conditions Survey to extend the traditional definition of outsider-ness. Four labour market segments are found: insiders and three different types of outsiders: typical outsiders, dead-end insiders and subjective outsiders. Looking at the cross-national aspect, variations are found in the segmentation patterns, especially in terms of who the outsiders are. The findings show the need to examine various aspects of labour precariousness in order to capture the complexity of post-industrialised labour markets and identify different types of outsiders across Europe that need to be protected for building a more cohesive society.
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