Unequal Treatment or Unequal Opportunity? Employer and Location Effects in the Racial Earnings Gap
The labor market shows persistently high pay disparities between Black and White workers, even when taking into account characteristics such as education, experience, and state of residence. Due, in part, to data limitations, there has not been a systematic analysis of the role employers play in explaining the racial earnings gap. Economist Itzik Fadlon will collaborate with Dr. Briana Sullivan of the U.S. Census Bureau to investigate the extent to which firms’ employment and pay practices and local labor market opportunities affect the Black-White earnings gap. He will analyze Internal Revenue Service tax records, Census data, and data from the Longitudinal Business Database for his study.