Certified Disparity: How Occupational Licensure and Educational Requirements Affect Racial Pay Disparities

• In Event: 50220 - Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 9: Racialized Organizations

Abstract

Income inequality remains a significant issue in the US, with considerable income variation by race, gender, marital status, parental status, and educational attainment. Although some of these gaps have narrowed over time, many have proven persistent. Barriers to occupational entry, primarily licensing and educational requirements, are contributing factors to racial/ethnic pay disparities. Much of the license wage premium research does not isolate licensing effects from educational requirements, but we account for these individual effects. In this study, we examine the effects of occupational license requirements using a measure constructed from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook with data from the Current Population Survey Merged Outgoing Rotation Groups (CPS-MORG). Preliminary results show that occupational license requirements are generally associated with wage premiums. However, the wage effects vary across racial and ethnic groups. Black and Hispanic workers experience substantially smaller licensing wage premiums than White and Asian workers.

Authors

• Rin Ferraro, Sam Houston State University

• Mathaus Viana Campos, University of Oklahoma

• Cyrus J. Schleifer, University of Oklahoma