On the Blurring of the Color Line: Wages and Employment for Black Males of Different Skin Tones

Abstract

We evaluate the role skin color plays in earnings and employment for black males in the NLSY97. By applying a novel, scaled measure of skin tone to a nationally representative sample and by estimating the evolution of labor market differentials over time, we bridge a burgeoning literature on skin color with more established literatures on wage differentials and labor market discrimination. We find that while intraracial wage gaps widen with experience, gaps between the lightest-skinned black workers and whites remain constant, suggesting that a blurring of the color line elicits subtle yet meaningful variation in earnings differentials over time.

Evidence of discrimination by preference in Brazil

“…On the other hand, column (1) shows that even among non-whites there is some room for discriminatory behavior, since browns discriminate more than blacks. This distinct behavior among non-whites is documented by Kreisman & Rangel (2015) in a different context for the US, where darker black NLSY1997 survey interviewers tend to classify blacks as lighter blacks than whites. Because the share of whites in the ADAE sample is less than this share among employers, and because whites discriminate more against blacks, again, we might be pushing the degree of prejudice of the potential marginal discriminator toward zero with this sample.…”

“…Of course, the scenario described might be different today. 3 Kreisman & Rangel (2015), using NLSY97 data that allow the survey interviewers to classify interviewees in a scaled measured skin tone, show that white interviewers tend to classify a black interviewee as darker black than black interviewers. Therefore, the proportion of blacks according to blacks in that country is probably different from the official statistic.…”

Can Emerging Markets Tilt Global Product Design? Impacts of Chinese Colorism on Hollywood Castings

“…Kreisman and Rangel (2015) provide consistent evidence from the labor market by examining earning gaps and tenure.…”

Empirical evidence of the effect of colorism on customer evaluations

“…The current research adds to the nascent literature on the relationship between skin tone and earnings (Kreisman, & Rangel, 2015), skin color and advertising (Watson et al, 2010), and skin tone and health issues (Sweet, McDade, Kiefe, & Liu, 2007) to establish a relationship between skin tone and service evaluations. As Celious and Oyserman (2001) indicated, and this study reiterates, a skin tone that is advantageous in one context may be adverse in another.…”