White Managers and Black Ethnic Labor Market Disparities

• In Event: 1284 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 10. Race/Ethnicity, Health, and Work

Abstract

For nearly a century, Black immigrants from the Caribbean have outperformed African Americans in the U.S. labor market. Most explanations for these disparities have focused on group differences in either cultural attitudes or skills. Few have speculated on the preferences of White managers. Those that have, report that Whites prefer Afro Caribbeans because they work harder and complain less about race relations in the workplace than African Americans. I examine the degree to which African Americans and Afro Caribbeans are different in terms of their labor quality and racial attitudes and provide the first national assessment of whether Afro Caribbeans derive greater remuneration than African Americans when working for White managers, net labor quality and racial attitudes. Using the National Survey of American Life, I show that these populations are not consistently or meaningfully different in terms of labor quality or racial attitudes and that any existing differences do not account for labor market disparities. Moreover, I show that both English- and non-English speaking Afro Caribbean incomes are approximately 40 percent higher when working for White managers and that African Americans with White managers receive no greater income than those without a White manager. Contrary to studies that focus on the role of between group differences, my results suggest that greater remuneration among Afro Caribbeans with White managers might account for income disparities between African Americans and Afro Caribbeans. I conclude by making connections between prominent explanations for Black ethnic disparities and White supremacy in the U.S.

Author

• Mosi Adesina Ifatunji, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill