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Employer Attitudes, the Marginal Employer, and the Ethnic Wage Gap

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  • Magnus Carlsson
  • Dan-Olof Rooth

Abstract

In most EU countries, ethnic minorities have lower wages than does the ethnic majority. To what extent these wage gaps are the result of prejudice toward ethnic minority workers is virtually unknown. The authors examine the role that prejudice plays in the creation of the ethnic wage gap in one of Europe’s most egalitarian countries, Sweden. The analysis takes into account the important distinction between average employer attitudes and the attitude of the marginal employer (the attitude of the most prejudiced employer hiring the ethnic minority). Results confirm that the attitudes of the marginal employer—but not those of the average employer—are important for explaining the ethnic wage gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Magnus Carlsson & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2016. "Employer Attitudes, the Marginal Employer, and the Ethnic Wage Gap," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 69(1), pages 227-252, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:69:y:2016:i:1:p:227-252
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. P. A. Riach & J. Rich, 2002. "Field Experiments of Discrimination in the Market Place," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(483), pages 480-518, November.
    2. Carlsson, Magnus & Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2007. "Evidence of ethnic discrimination in the Swedish labor market using experimental data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 716-729, August.
    3. Rooth, Dan-Olof, 2010. "Automatic associations and discrimination in hiring: Real world evidence," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 523-534, June.
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    5. Waisman, Gisela & Larsen, Birthe, 2007. "Do attitudes towards immigrants matter?," Working Papers 11-2007, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
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    7. Alicia Adsera & Barry Chiswick, 2007. "Are there gender and country of origin differences in immigrant labor market outcomes across European destinations?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(3), pages 495-526, July.
    8. Olof Åslund & Dan-Olof Rooth, 2005. "Shifts in attitudes and labor market discrimination: Swedish experiences after 9-11," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(4), pages 603-629, November.
    9. Dustmann, Christian & Preston, Ian, 2001. "Attitudes to Ethic Minorities, Ethnic Context and Location Decisions," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(470), pages 353-373, April.
    10. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Jonathan Guryan, 2008. "Prejudice and Wages: An Empirical Assessment of Becker's The Economics of Discrimination," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(5), pages 773-809, October.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Mladen Adamovic & Andreas Leibbrandt, 2023. "A large‐scale field experiment on occupational gender segregation and hiring discrimination," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 34-59, January.
    3. Heili Hein & Aaro Hazak & Kadri Männasoo, 2017. "Who has a better chance of getting higher salaries among creative R&D employees?," TUT Economic Research Series 39, Department of Finance and Economics, Tallinn University of Technology.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    attitudes; prejudice; marginal employer; ethnic wage gap;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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