Discrimination, Human Capital, and Black-White Unemployment: Evidence from Cities

Steven Shulman

Journal of Human Resources, 1987, vol. 22, issue 3, 361-376

Abstract: Neither human capital theory nor the declining discrimination hypothesis can account for the failure of the black-white employment gap to fall along with the wage gap. However, the weakness of the labor market since 1970 suggests that sustained employment discrimination in the context of restrictions on compensatory wage discrimination can explain these trends. This hypothesis is assessed with a cross-sectional model employing 1980 census summary data on SMSAs. The innovative feature of this model is the use of complaints of job discrimination received by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as proxies for actual discrimination. Results support the contention that the forms of discrimination have undergone a compositional shift and that employment discrimination reduces the probability of black employment.

Date: 1987
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:22:y:1987:i:3:p:361-376

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