Deck 9: Income and Labor Market Inequality

Question 1

In 2012, almost ______ of the 153.6 million Americans with a job at any time made less than $15,000, averaging just $6,100 per year.

A) a quarter (25%)
B) one half (50%)
C) a third (33%)
D) two-thirds (66%)

Answer 1

C

Question 2

In 2012, the number of people whose jobs paid cash wage of $5 million or more grew by _______ to 8,982 workers?

A) 24%
B) 25%
C) 26%
D) 27%

Answer 2

D

Question 3

For the top 1%, they saw their average incomes rise a real increase that nearly __________ their pretax incomes.

A) doubled ($881,000)
B) tripled ($1,264,000)
C) quadrupled ($1,764,000)
D) None of the above

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The difference in earnings between the richest and poorest people has ________ over the past decades.

A) shortened
B) stayed the same
C) widened
D) skyrocketed

Question 5

What is the measure of inequality, with 0 representing perfect equality and 1 representing perfect inequality?

A) Gini coefficient
B) Scarcity costs
C) Equity coefficient
D) Pareto efficiency

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT true of the United States, compared with similar nations, when it comes to income inequality?

A) The US ranks last in child poverty rates.
B) The US has the largest ration between the richest 10% and the poorest 10%.
C) The US has the highest rate of insurance coverage (58%).
D) The US has the highest percentage of people living below 50% of the median income.

Question 7

White women earn, on average, _____ cents an hour for each dollar that White men earn:

A) 91
B) 79
C) 77
D) 62

Question 8

Black women earn, on average, ____cents for each dollar that White men make?

A) 48
B) 54
C) 62
D) 71

Question 9

Native American make only _____ cents on the dollar that White men make:

A) 35
B) 48
C) 57
D) 61

Question 10

There is a saying in the Black community, "When America catches a cold, Black People get__________?"

A) sicker
B) the flu
C) pneumonia
D) bronchitis

Question 11

Researchers found that, without taking the incarcerated population into account, ____ of Black high school dropouts aged 21-30 had jobs; compared with ______ of White high school dropouts.

A) 30%; 90%
B) 40%; 75%
C) 60%; 85%
D) 50%; 80%

Question 12

In sociology, educational attainment, skills and job experience are called:

A) human capital.
B) economic capital.
C) social capital.
D) cultural capital.

Question 13

From highest to lowest, which groups graduated from high school immediately enrolled in college?

A) Whites, Asians, Latinos
B) Asians, Whites, Latinos
C) Asians, Latinos, Whites
D) Whites, Latinos, Asians

Question 14

When an applicant is not given an opportunity to interview for a job because of his race, it is called?

A) explicit elimination
B) racially rejected
C) categorical exclusion
D) biased expulsion

Question 15

In a global study of employment discrimination, researchers found which of the following countries created significant barriers to employment?

A) France
B) Sweden
C) Germany
D) All of the above

Question 16

Edna Bonacich (1976) called difference in the price of labor for two or more groups of laborers:

A) split labor market.
B) dual labor market.
C) splintered labor market.
D) segmented labor market.

Question 17

When Black and White employees worked together, labor conditions and wages were higher for everyone. These increases in labor costs led factory owners to make changes that would lower their costs. Which of the following was NOT something they did?

A) They relocated part of the manufacturing processes abroad.
B) They relocated their factories to parts of the country where unions were not as strong.
C) They bribed White union workers to turn their back on Black union workers.
D) They mechanized parts of the manufacturing process.

Question 18

What is the name of the hypothesis that African American men in particular often do not have the skills required to secure work in the current economy?

A) skills mismatch hypothesis
B) strengths mismatch hypothesis
C) success mismatch hypothesis
D) spatial mismatch hypothesis

Question 19

Which two northern cities experienced a great deal of deindustrialization?

A) Chicago, New York
B) Detroit, Cleveland
C) Chicago, Detroit
D) Indianapolis, Philadelphia

Question 20

In a 2004 New York Hiring Discrimination Study, researchers sent out two means of men, each of which included a White, Latino, and Black job tester, all between 21 to 26 years of age and of similar height. They told the White testers to indicate that they had a criminal record. Who received the highest percentage of callbacks?

A) A Latino with no criminal record.
B) A White man with a criminal record.
C) A Black man with no criminal record.
D) A Latino with a criminal record.

Question 21

Every 1 in every _____ people you meet today, statistically, has no income except for food stamps.

Question 22

What is the difference between a wage gap and an earnings gap?

Question 23

There is a lot of variation in income household among Asian Americans of different national origins. Please provide an example.

Question 24

In 2016, the average Black male worker earned $18 per hour, compared to the average White male worker earned $25 an hour. What accounts for the $7 difference?

Question 25

A survey conducted in 2001 found that more than 33% of Blacks and nearly 20% of Latinos believed they had…...?

Question 26

What accompanied the decline in manufacturing?

Question 27

A _____ _______ economy is an economy in which a business's success is both shaped and limited by the racial group membership of the business owner.

Question 28

What did Dr. Harvey Wingfield find out about some African American women without college educations are able to do for themselves?

Question 29

What was the effect of COVID-19 on Black small businesses and self-employed businesses?

Question 30

Prior to the civil rights era, why was it "illogical" for companies to keep hiring White workers when they were paying African Americans less? Wouldn't they want to pay the least?

Question 31

According to David Cay Johnston, what was financial life like for most Americans from the end of WWII until the early 1970s?

Question 32

What does it mean to be underemployed?

Question 33

What does research about names and resumes show when it comes to discrimination?

Question 34

What is the overarching goal of affirmative action in employment?

Question 35

What happened in Detroit, Michigan as deindustrialization occurred?