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Understanding the ethnic pay gap in Britain

Author

Listed:
  • Malcolm Brynin

    (University of Essex, UK)

  • Ayse Güveli

    (University of Essex, UK)

Abstract

The pay gap between white British workers and other ethnic groups is largely in favour of whites, which suggests that discrimination might be a factor. However, discrimination can occur at two points, at entry to the job and within the job. In the former case non-whites might find it difficult to work in well-paid occupations; in the latter they obtain the same sorts of jobs as whites but receive less pay. There is therefore predominantly either job or wage discrimination. We use the British Labour Force Survey 1993–2008 to show that much of the pay gap is explained by occupational segregation while within occupations the ethnic pay gap is far less substantial. Occupational segregation therefore has strong negative effects, but if minorities are over-represented in occupations with a positive wage gap, then there is also a ‘protective’ element to segregation.

Suggested Citation

  • Malcolm Brynin & Ayse Güveli, 2012. "Understanding the ethnic pay gap in Britain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 26(4), pages 574-587, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:26:y:2012:i:4:p:574-587
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Kai Ingwersen & Stephan L. Thomsen, 2021. "The immigrant-native wage gap in Germany revisited," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 19(4), pages 825-854, December.
    2. Boris Heizmann & Anne Busch-Heizmann & Elke Holst, 2017. "Immigrant Occupational Composition and the Earnings of Immigrants and Natives in Germany: Sorting or Devaluation?," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 475-505, June.
    3. Zwysen, Wouter & Longhi, Simonetta, 2016. "Labour market disadvantage of ethnic minority British graduates: university choice, parental background or neighbourhood?," ISER Working Paper Series 2016-02, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Amadxarif, Zahid & Angeli, Marilena & Haldane, Andrew G & Zemaityte, Gabija, 2020. "Understanding pay gaps," Bank of England working papers 877, Bank of England.
    5. Wen Wang & Roger Seifert, 2020. "BAME Staff and Public Service Motivation: The Mediating Role of Perceived Fairness in English Local Government," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 653-664, January.
    6. Longhi, Simonetta, 2017. "Spatial-Ethnic Inequalities: The Role of Location in the Estimation of Ethnic Wage Differentials," IZA Discussion Papers 11073, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Evgeniya Polyakova & Larisa Smirnykh, 2015. "The Impact of Sectoral Segregation on the Earning Differential between Natives and Immigrants in Russia," HSE Working papers WP BRP 110/EC/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    8. Castro Campos, Bente & Ren, Yanjun & Petrick, Martin, 2016. "The impact of education on income inequality between ethnic minorities and Han in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 253-267.

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