6 ms·

Racial Differences in Time at Work Not Working

14 points by rustoo 5y ago

nieve 5y ago
Their conclusion is that there's no relevant difference.
- JulianMorrison 5y ago
  The implied but not stated corollary is that everyone who is assuming there's a difference is making unsupported assertions.
dandare 5y ago
> race-based wage/earnings disparities in the labor market Is there an adjusted race wage gap similar to adjusted gender pay gap? By adjusted I mean for the same work on the same position. This Wikipedia article does not mention any adjusted (apples-to-apples) comparison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_pay_gap_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_pay_gap_in_the_United_S...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
corecoder 5y ago
I don't get it, is this research done under the assumption that black people get lower wages because they are lazy?
- throwanem 5y ago
  From the way the abstract is written, I think it was done with the intent of conclusively disproving that assumption. I don't know how much difference a study like this will make to people who make that assumption, but whatever difference it can make, it reads like it was intended to.
torginus 5y ago
This is a bit of an aside - but has there been a study that takes into account that African Americans are not evenly distributed throughout the country? I'm not from the U.S. but my guess would be that many of them live in the southern states where the wages (as well as the cost of living) tend to be lower - hence this might cause a wage gap in terms of absolute dollars, but the difference could be less significant when adjusted for purchasing power.
- throwanem 5y ago
  Your guess would be sensible but wrong. While the "Black Belt" is indeed a thing, it is relatively sparsely populated (regardless of race); meanwhile every MSA east of the Mississippi, as well as a few in the much whiter part of the country west of it, has a sizable black population, and those are also most of the most expensive places to live in the US. I didn't read as far as methods, but it would probably be no harder to design a study not biased by region than one that is. Maybe easier, depending on how you recruit.
mrblampo 5y ago
The opening sentence is poorly worded: "Racial differences in effort at work, if they exist, can potentially explain race-based wage/earnings disparities in the labor market." This seems to emphasize the possibility of a cause and effect, which was not actually found. I'm not sure what a good alternative is, though, since "Racial differences in effort at work, if they don't exist, cannot explain race-based wage/earnings disparities in the labor market" is a double negative and more confusing.
gatlin 5y ago
The "lazy black person" trope is Jim Crowe propaganda, plain and simple. This study has good intentions but I'm inclined to say the trope didn't need to be dignified with such a high-effort response.

14 points by rustoo 5y ago

nieve 5y ago

Their conclusion is that there's no relevant difference.

JulianMorrison 5y ago
The implied but not stated corollary is that everyone who is assuming there's a difference is making unsupported assertions.

dandare 5y ago

> race-based wage/earnings disparities in the labor market Is there an adjusted race wage gap similar to adjusted gender pay gap? By adjusted I mean for the same work on the same position. This Wikipedia article does not mention any adjusted (apples-to-apples) comparison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_pay_gap_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_pay_gap_in_the_United_S...

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

corecoder 5y ago

I don't get it, is this research done under the assumption that black people get lower wages because they are lazy?

throwanem 5y ago
From the way the abstract is written, I think it was done with the intent of conclusively disproving that assumption. I don't know how much difference a study like this will make to people who make that assumption, but whatever difference it can make, it reads like it was intended to.

torginus 5y ago

This is a bit of an aside - but has there been a study that takes into account that African Americans are not evenly distributed throughout the country? I'm not from the U.S. but my guess would be that many of them live in the southern states where the wages (as well as the cost of living) tend to be lower - hence this might cause a wage gap in terms of absolute dollars, but the difference could be less significant when adjusted for purchasing power.

throwanem 5y ago
Your guess would be sensible but wrong. While the "Black Belt" is indeed a thing, it is relatively sparsely populated (regardless of race); meanwhile every MSA east of the Mississippi, as well as a few in the much whiter part of the country west of it, has a sizable black population, and those are also most of the most expensive places to live in the US. I didn't read as far as methods, but it would probably be no harder to design a study not biased by region than one that is. Maybe easier, depending on how you recruit.

mrblampo 5y ago

The opening sentence is poorly worded: "Racial differences in effort at work, if they exist, can potentially explain race-based wage/earnings disparities in the labor market." This seems to emphasize the possibility of a cause and effect, which was not actually found. I'm not sure what a good alternative is, though, since "Racial differences in effort at work, if they don't exist, cannot explain race-based wage/earnings disparities in the labor market" is a double negative and more confusing.

gatlin 5y ago

The "lazy black person" trope is Jim Crowe propaganda, plain and simple. This study has good intentions but I'm inclined to say the trope didn't need to be dignified with such a high-effort response.