Black Women and Double Discrimination in Employment

Studies on earnings inequality find that black women are underpaid relative to similarly qualified black men, as well as relative to similarly qualified white women. But in economics, standard analytical approaches treat race and gender separately, overlooking the possibility that race and gender interact within the context of labor markets to compound the disadvantages faced by black women workers. With an award from the Foundation, economist Marlene Kim will conduct a quantitative study comparing the wages of African American women with the wages of white men, as well as with the earnings of African American men. She will use PUMS data from 2000 to ascertain whether wage differences are due to discrimination based on race, gender, or a combination of the two that results in a distinct disadvantage for African-American women.