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  5. Race and the Labor Market: The Role of Firms 
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Race and the Labor Market: The Role of Firms 

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (EST)

Philadelphia Convention Center, 204-C
Hosted By: American Economic Association
  • Chair: Joseph G. Altonji, Yale University

Race, Ethnicity, and Nonpayment of Unemployment Insurance: The Role of the Employer

Marta Lachowska
,
Institute for Employment Research
Stephen A. Woodbury
,
Michigan State University

Abstract

This study examines whether unemployment insurance (UI) claimants who are Black, Hispanic, or Asian are more likely than White claimants to have their claims disputed by an employer or ultimately not receive UI – issues that are central to ongoing concerns about equity in access to UI benefits. Using UI administrative wage and claim records from Washington State from 2005 to 2013, we conduct an analysis of workers with multiple UI claims filed with different employers, which isolates the influence of employer behavior on disputes and nonpayment of UI. We find strong evidence of employer-specific effects on the probability of a worker’s UI claim being disputed, but relatively weak evidence that employer disputes translate into nonpayment of UI benefits. And after controlling for unobserved worker heterogeneity, employer effects, and time-varying covariates, we find only weak evidence that employers dispute the claims of non-White workers more than those of White workers, and no evidence of racial or ethnic disparities in nonpayment of benefits with respect to employer disputes.

Race Gaps in Firm Size and the Job Ladder

Lisa Kahn
,
University of Rochester
Yang Chang
,
University of Rochester

Abstract

Black-white labor market gaps are large and progress has largely stalled since the 1980s. Black workers are disadvantaged on a wide range of observable characteristics, yet are surprisingly more likely to be found at large firms. This sorting may appear to advantage Black workers given the well known firm-size wage premium. On the other hand, climbing the job ladder is a vital component of career success. An initial start can help workers progress to better firms and jobs through transitions. If Black workers have less access to firms on the first rungs of the job ladder, their career progression may be inhibited. In this project, I ask how Black and white workers progress up the firm size job ladder. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY), I document race gaps in wage growth over the first 10 years of a career. I decompose growth into contributions from job mobility overall and, specifically, contributions from movement up the firm size ladder. I find that Black workers move jobs more often than white workers so achieve a larger portion of early career wage growth through mobility. However, they spend a larger fraction of their early career out of the labor market while white workers gain their first jobs at small firms. A lack of access to the bottom rungs of the job ladder can therefore account for a substantial portion of the race gap in early career wage growth.

Black-White Gaps in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

Helen Levy
,
University of Michigan

Abstract

Racial gaps in fringe benefits have received less attention than gaps in wages or earnings. In this paper, I analyze racial gaps in health insurance provided by employers. In the aggregate, racial gaps in this benefit have dramatically narrowed, to the point where there is no significant difference for Black vs. white workers. However, this obscures significant differences when disaggregating the data by race. Using data from the Current Population Survey spanning the years 1988 through 2017, I find that Black male workers are about six percentage points less likely than white male workers to have such coverage, while Black female workers are about six percentage points more likely than white female workers to do so. These differences persist after controlling for education. The lower rate of coverage for Black men compared with white men is largely the result of lower rates of health insurance offering at the firm level, rather than eligibility conditional on offering or takeup conditional on eligibility. The higher rate of coverage for Black women compared with white women is largely the result of higher takeup conditional on eligibility and, to a lesser extent, higher rates of eligibility, with very little difference in health insurance offering at the firm level. These results highlight the importance of considering men and women separately when analyzing racial differentials in the labor market.

Discussant(s)
Bryan Stuart
,
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
Patrick Bayer
,
Duke University
Jeffrey Thompson
,
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
JEL Classifications
  • J6 - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers
  • J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs