Deck 12: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Labor Market

Question 1

Female earnings as a fraction of male earnings tend to ________ as age increases and tend to ________ as education increases.

A) increase; increase
B) increase; decrease
C) decrease; increase
D) decrease; decrease

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Suppose that females and males are equally productive and that some employers discriminate against females. If some employers begin discriminating against males, which of these CANNOT happen (assuming that nothing else changes).

A) The relative wages of women will rise.
B) The relative wages of women will fall.
C) The relative wages of women will stay the same.
D) The relative wages of women will rise above that of men.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Between 1988 and 2008, which group did NOT experience growth in their share of the civilian labor force?

A) women
B) white males
C) hispanics
D) asians and Native Americans

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following can NOT explain differences in earnings of men and women?

A) experience
B) occupation
C) unobservable characteristics
D) income maximization by all workers

Question 5

In the mid-1990s the labor force participation rate of black women was ________ the rate of white women, while the rate for black men was ________ the rate of white men.

A) greater than; less than
B) greater than; equal to
C) equal to; less than
D) equal to; equal to

Question 6

If workers in one group are discriminated against and face higher search costs, then

A) a nondiscriminating employer will hire them at the same wage as workers in the other group.
B) they will have better job matches than workers in the other group.
C) their employers will have more monopsony power over them than over employees in the other group.
D) they will work in the secondary job market.

Question 7

Employee-based discrimination along racial lines implies all of the following EXCEPT

A) workers will be paid more when working in racially integrated work places.
B) some work place segregation will occur.
C) workers wish to maximize utility rather than wages.
D) profit-maximizing employers will seek to hire employees with a preference for discrimination.

Question 8

The index of occupational dissimilarity for women and men

A) would be 100 if all occupations were completely segregated.
B) would be 100 if men and women were randomly assigned to jobs.
C) has risen since 1970.
D) shows the percentage workers who face occupational discrimination.

Question 9

Occupational discrimination

A) occurs when secretaries are paid less than truck drivers.
B) is when the distribution of jobs within one group is different from the distribution of jobs within another group.
C) is keeping one group in lower-paying jobs although their potential productivity is equal to that of those who have access to higher-paying jobs.
D) is the desire of those in one group to work in different jobs than those in another group.

Question 10

The female-male wage ratio in the United States is generally ________ than in other industrialized countries, probably because ________

A) higher; in the United States women's productive characteristics are closer to those of men.
B) higher; American women face relatively less discrimination.
C) lower; American women face relatively more discrimination.
D) lower; pay gaps between high- and low-paid workers are wider in the United States.

Question 11

Actual efforts to identify wage discrimination in the labor market

A) provide conclusive proof that wage discrimination against women exists and reduces their wages by about 10%.
B) provide conclusive proof that wage discrimination against women exists and reduces their wages by about 20%.
C) cannot prove the existence of wage discrimination because some important unmeasurable characteristics differ by gender.
D) cannot prove the existence of wage discrimination because some important measurable characteristics differ by gender.

Question 12

Customer discrimination will cause

A) segregated workplaces.
B) no wage differentials.
C) firms to give up profits to maximize utility.
D) discriminating customers to pay lower prices.

Question 13

Wage discrimination is

A) paying less productive workers lower wages.
B) paying one group more than another, while paying the same price for productive characteristics in both groups.
C) paying one group less than another, although they have the same productive characteristics.
D) paying part-time workers less per hour than full-time workers.

Question 14

Suppose that a female worker has considerable child-raising duties at home which reduce her labor market productivity and pay by 10% compared to her male counterpart. Also suppose that their observable productivity characteristics are equal. Then the standard procedure will estimate that wage discrimination reduces her wages by ________, while her actual reduction in wages due to labor market discrimination is ________.

A) 10%; 10%
B) 10%; 0%
C) 0%; 10%
D) 0%; 0%

Question 15

In general, women in low-paying jobs tend to earn ________ of male earnings (for those males in low-paying jobs) than women in high-paying jobs.

A) a higher percentage
B) a lower percentage
C) about the same
D) about the same, but subject to many major exceptions

Question 16

If males and females are paid the same price for each of their productive characteristics then it follows that

A) they will earn the same wages.
B) discrimination has been eliminated.
C) males and females are not compensated differently for each added year of experience.
D) occupational segregation will be zero.

Question 17

Empirical studies of wage differentials between young black males and young white males estimate that

A) almost all of the wage differential is due to discrimination.
B) about half of the wage differential is due to discrimination.
C) differences in cognitive abilities explain most of the wage gap.
D) occupational discrimination explains most of the wage gap.

Question 18

Suppose that the labor force participation of married males is 70% and their unemployment rate is 20%, then their employment rate

A) is 50%.
B) is 56%.
C) is 80%.
D) cannot be calculated without more information.

Question 19

Federal antidiscrimination programs appear to

A) have made no difference in raising relative earnings of black workers.
B) have made little difference raising relative earnings of black workers, probably because individual programs have had only small effects.
C) have helped to raise relative earnings of black workers.
D) have hurt the relative earnings of black workers.

Question 20

Employer discrimination implies that

A) some employers give up profits to avoid hiring one group.
B) if the group discriminated against is small, there will be a wage differential in the market.
C) there will be no market wage differential.
D) co-workers and customers prefer one group of workers over another.

Question 21

Percentage goals in minority employment

A) can be met more quickly for companies that can maintain low quit rates.
B) will not cause changes in the makeup of a company's workforce.
C) can always be met quickly if nondiscriminatory hiring is used.
D) will take longer to achieve in industries with relatively lower turnover rates.

Question 22

Studies including cognitive achievement among the measures of productive have generally found

A) differences in cognitive achievement alone explain most of the overall black/white earnings gap.
B) differences in cognitive achievement alone explain most of the overall male/female earnings gap.
C) differences in cognitive achievement do not explain most of the overall black/white earnings gap.
D) differences in cognitive achievement explain most of the variation in earnings among people.

Question 23

Comparable worth

A) sets salaries in the most efficient manner possible.
B) implies that all professions are underpaid.
C) ignores market conditions.
D) depends on supply and demand factors.

Question 24

Racial occupational dissimilarities are ________ and have fallen ________ over time than gender-related occupational dissimilarities.

A) smaller; faster
B) smaller; slower
C) larger; faster
D) larger; slower

Question 25

Comparable worth analysis in Minnesota found that

A) measured worth of most jobs was completely unrelated to pay.
B) a regression of measured worth versus pay yielded a horizontal line.
C) jobs with higher measured worth received higher pay.
D) jobs with higher measured worth received lower pay.

Question 26

In the employer model of discrimination where employers differ in how much they devalue the productivity of women (in the d), which of the following will lower the relative wage of women?

A) The fraction of females in the workforce increases and, as a result, employers hire a larger fraction of females.
B) Employers become more driven to maximize profits.
C) Special training raises the productivity of women.
D) More nondiscriminating employers enter the market, lowering the profits made from hiring women.

Question 27

All of the following statements about the effectiveness of federal antidiscrimination programs are true EXCEPT (select the statement that is not true)

A) they increased the black/white earnings ratio between 1960 and 1975.
B) between regions, the greatest gains in increasing the black/white earnings ratio were in the South.
C) between programs, the greatest gains in increasing the black/white earnings ratio were from the affirmative action programs.
D) they had a small impact on the black/white earnings ration after 1980.

Question 28

Suppose that tall employees dislike working with short employees. Assume also that short and tall employees are perfect substitutes for one another in producing goods. What is the likely outcome?

A) Tall workers will be paid more to compensate them for their dislike of short workers.
B) Work places will be segregated (some employing only tall employees, others all short employees).
C) Firms will make a larger profit by integrating the work place.
D) Increased diversity in the workplace will decrease turnover rates.

Question 29

In the model where employers discriminate against females, those employers that devalue the productivity of the females more than other employers will

A) pay a lower wage to females.
B) still hire females even when they earn the same wage as males.
C) earn a lower profit.
D) do all of the above.

Question 30

In a given market, women with the same skills as men earn less. Which of the following would suggest that the main source of the discrimination are the managers that must work with them?

A) Managers working with women must be paid more.
B) Companies with managers who hire more women make a larger profit.
C) Companies hiring women offer more day care and other amenities favored by women.
D) All of the above.

Question 31

There are one hundred jobs and one hundred workers in a competitive job market. All workers are equally productive. All employers dislike female workers but vary by the degree of their dislike. Job one's employer dislikes females by $1 a week, job two's employer by $2 a week, and so forth, such that job one hundred's employer dislikes females by $100 a week. Assume male workers are paid $500 a week. If there are 40 females and 60 males in the labor force, then which of the following is true in the short-run equilibrium?

A) Employer 40 will pay a wage of $440 and hire a female.
B) Employer 10 will pay a wage of $440 and hire a female.
C) Employers of males could increase their monetary profit by hiring females instead.
D) All of the above are true.

Question 32

There are one hundred supervising jobs and one hundred male supervisors in a competitive job market. In addition, each supervisor supervises one line worker. There are one hundred line jobs and one hundred line workers. The supervisor of job one dislikes supervising female line workers by $1 a week. The supervisor of job two dislikes female line workers by $2 a week, and so forth, such that the supervisor of job hundred dislikes supervising female line workers by $100 a week. There are 60 female and 40 male line workers. Supervisors of male line workers are paid $400 a week and male line workers are paid $200 a week. Which of the following is NOT true in the short-run equilibrium?

A) The female line worker working for the supervisor in job 60 will get paid $140 a week.
B) The female line worker working for the supervisor in job 20 will get paid $140 a week.
C) The employer of the supervisor in job 80 must paid the supervisor $460.
D) The employers of male line workers could increase profits by hiring females instead.

Question 33

The Equal Pay Act of 1963

A) outlawed sexual discrimination in firing of workers.
B) outlawed sexual discrimination in hiring of workers.
C) outlawed separate pay scales for men and women who perform the same jobs.
D) outlawed racial discrimination in hiring of workers.

Question 34

A study finds that handsome people make more than ugly people in occupations where workers interact with customers. This supports which of these models of discrimination?

A) employer discrimination
B) customer discrimination
C) employee discrimination
D) statistical discrimination

Question 35

In a given market, women with the same skills as men earn less. Which of the following would suggest that the main source of discrimination against women is employers?

A) Companies make the same profit whether they hire women or men.
B) Male managers who work with women must be paid more.
C) Companies hiring women offer more day care and other job amenities favored by women.
D) The companies hiring more women make a larger profit.