Thomas N. Daymont

Racial discrimination and the social organization of industries

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between several factors of the social organization of labor markets and racial discrimination during the late 1960s. Log-linear models are used to obtain indicators of the relative opportunities of black and white men to obtain different occupations across each of 38 industrial segments. We then examine the nature of the relationship between these indicators of discrimination and a number of aspects of industries suggested to be important by various theories of discrimination. The results indicate that relative black opportunities were favorably influenced by government employment, industrial and white collar (but not craft) unionization, and product market power, and they were adversely influenced by profitability and customer preferences for nonretail sales workers. Of particular interest is the finding that, contrary to the hypothesis derived from neoclassical economics, market power had a positive effect on black opportunities.

Measuring industrial variation in racial discrimination using log-linear models

Abstract This paper modifies previous research on discrimination by measuring different aspects of discrimination across 39 industrial segments of the labor market during an interesting period—the late 1960s. Operating within a standardization framework, we show how simple functions of multiplicative log-linear parameters can be meaningfully interpreted as measures of racial discrimination across and within industry categories. Our results indicate that there is substantial variation across industries in the degree and kind of discrimination.

Racial equity or racial equality

This study examines the relationship between racial equity in labor market processes and racial equality in future labor market rewards. In particular, a regression standardization procedure is used to project the degree of racial inequality in earnings that would exist among men at various future points in time based on three different sets of assumptions about attainment processes in labor market and educational institutions. The most important results suggest that even if racial discrimination were eliminated immediately in labor market and educational institutions, it would take almost 50 years for the black-white earnings ratio to reach .95. This incompatibility between equity and equality needs to be considered more explicitly both by those who advocate a color-blind labor market and those who advocate preferential treatment for blacks.

Pay Premiums for Economic Sector and Race: A Decomposition.

Abstract This paper examines two issues concerning a dual economy theory of labor markets. Using data from the older mens file of the National Longitudinal Surveys, I first investigate the degree to which differences in rates of pay among economic sectors (competitive, monopoly, public) are accounted for by sector differences in (1) human capital composition, (2) unionization, (3) occupational skill requirements, and (4) other factors producing an ability and willingness to pay high wages. The results of this decomposition suggest that the greater ability and willingness to pay high wages and the higher levels of unionization are the primary factors producing a monopoly sector pay premium. Second, I examine how racial differences in pay vary across sector and perform an analogous decomposition of these differences. In contrast to several previous studies, the relative disadvantages of black men were found to be somewhat greater in the competitive sector than in the monopoly sector.

Industrial organization, economic conditions, and the labor market success of young men: An overview and extension

Abstract The relationship between workplace organization and socioeconomic attainments of workers, although an issue of some currency in contemporary stratification research, is complex and as yet not well understood. In contrast to dual economic theory, this paper attempts to sort out the separate effects of various components of the social organization of production on job rewards by adopting an explicit multidimensional approach to the conceptualization and measurement of organizational structure. Moreover, various considerations suggest that these structural impacts vary with business cycle activity. Accordingly, one of the research aims is to examine the extent to which various dimensions of organizational structure serve to differentially insulate workers from wage stagnation as economic conditions deteriorate. Finally, because firms may devise different institutional responses to declining product demand, these structural effects on both wage rates and unemployment propensities are examined.

The Age Mix of the Labor Force in 1990: Implications for Labor Market Research

Assessing future changes in labor force composition is a prerequisite to understanding the problems and opportunities that such changes produce. A natural starting point for assessing these future changes is the labor force projections that are provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics approximately every two years. The projected age distributions for 1990 and 1995 from the most recent projections have been reproduced in Table 1 along with the actual distributions for 1970 and 1979 (Fullerton, 1980)1. In Table 2 actual and projected labor force participation rates for these same years and age groups are also reproduced. These projections suggest that the age distribution of the labor force will change significantly over the next decade and that the nature of these changes will differ from the changes that took place during the 1970s.