Racial Gaps in Managerial Career Advancement

Sam Hoey, Thomas Peeters and Stefan Szymanski
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Sam Hoey: Erasmus University Rotterdam
Stefan Szymanski: University of Michigan

No 26-053/VII, Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers from Tinbergen Institute

Abstract: We study racial disparities in advancement to top management using the careers of 4,770 former frontline workers from a prominent industry in England. Black workers are substantially less likely than non-Black workers to reach top managerial positions (11 versus 20 percent). We identify three sources of this gap: lower entry into management, lower promotion rates within management, and shorter tenure in senior managerial roles. Counterfactual simulations show that barriers to entering management explain most of the racial gap early in workers’ careers, while differences in promotion rates become the dominant driver later on.

Keywords: racial discrimination; career progression; systemic discrimination; football managers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 M50 M54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-08-03
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:tin:wpaper:20260053

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