Chapter 19:The Economics of Labor Market Discrimination

The 1964 Civil Rights Act

was the first federal legislation to prohibit employment discrimination on basis of race, colour, religion.

The equilibrium quantity and price of labor are determined by the

demand and supply of workers in that particular market.

Economic reasoning predicts

that antidiscrimination policies can have both positive and negative impacts on protected groups of workers, and much economic research has sought to isolate the impacts of the laws.

Affirmative action requires

some organizations to take action to increase the representation of women and minorities.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The ________ is the agency that monitors compliance and enforces the Civil Rights Act.

Statistical discrimination

________ occurs when people use information about the average characteristics of a group when making decisions about an individual member of that group.

Wage discrimination

________ occurs when equally productive workers in the same job are paid different wages based on a characteristic unrelated to productivity.

Earnings ratios

________ can be used to compute the pay gap between two groups.

Civil Rights Act forms

the cornerstone of federal antidiscrimination policy in the U.S.

Affirmative action

________ is a set of policies that mandate taking action to ensure the equal treatment of people regardless of their race, creed, colour.