Diversity Dividends: Workplace Racial Composition and within Race Inequality

• In Event: 127 - Section on Inequality, Poverty and Mobility Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Paper Session: Table 11. Income Inequality

Abstract

This article explores within race wage inequality resulting from the racial composition of workplaces. Specifically, we investigate whether being a minority in the workplace is associated with higher wages relative to co-ethnics who work in same race contexts. Drawing on data from the Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality, we find – net of human capital, job, and workplace controls – non-whites who work in mostly white contexts earn higher wages than their co-ethnics who work in same race contexts. Our findings lend little support to the idea that integrated workplaces represent “better” jobs. Rather, there is a benefit associated with working with whites that co-ethnics working in similar jobs do not receive. Our analysis suggests that there is a premium associated with “diversity labor” provided by non-white workers. Based on these findings, we argue that stratification scholars must attend to mezzo-level mechanisms – specifically those workplaces – to fully understand the drivers of within-race wage inequality.

Authors

• Corey D. Fields, Stanford University

• Koji Rafael Chavez, Stanford University