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The Labor Market Effects of Sex and Race Discrimination Laws
Author(s) -
Neumark David,
Stock Wendy A.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
economic inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1465-7295
pISSN - 0095-2583
DOI - 10.1093/ei/cbj034
Subject(s) - race (biology) , earnings , economics , legislation , labour economics , state (computer science) , racism , sex discrimination , law , demographic economics , political science , sociology , gender studies , accounting , algorithm , computer science
We study the effects of state sex and race discrimination laws that were passed prior to federal antidiscrimination legislation. State sex discrimination laws targeted discrimination in pay only. Because an equal pay constraint raises the relative price of female labor, we would expect the relative employment of females to decline. We find robust evidence that state equal pay laws for women reduced relative employment of both black women and white women. We also find some evidence of positive effects of race discrimination laws on earnings of blacks relative to whites, although no evidence of employment effects. (JEL J15 , J16 , J18 , J23 )