Full Citation
Title: Minimum Wages and Racial Discrimination in Hiring: Evidence from a Field Experiment
Citation Type: Working Paper
Publication Year: 2023
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI: 10.17848/wp23-389
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Abstract: When minimum wages increase, employers may respond to the regulatory burdens by substituting away from disadvantaged workers. We test this hypothesis using a correspondence study with 35,000 applications around ex-ante uncertain minimum wage increases in three U.S. states. Before the increases, applicants with distinctively Black names were 19 percent less likely to receive a callback than equivalent applicants with distinctively white names. Announcements of minimum wage hikes substantially reduce callbacks for all applicants but shrink the racial callback gap by 80 percent. Racial inequality decreases because firms disproportionately reduce callbacks to lower-quality white applicants who benefited from discrimination under lower minimum wages.
Url: https://doi.org/10.17848/wp23-389
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Authors: Brandon, Alec; Holz, Justin E; Simon, Andrew; Uchida, Haruka
Series Title: Upjohn Institute working papers
Publication Number: 23-389
Institution: W.E. UpJohn Institute For Employment Research
Pages: 1-92
Publisher Location:
Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity, Work, Family, and Time
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