Thu 8 Feb 2007
[KR: Sent in by Chris Zepeda. Similar to research by Burch, Hochschild, Weaver, and others, this may mean that policies meant to combat discrimination may need to pay more attention to color than other ethnic characteristics. And, although height may matter, it is not a protected category for anti-discrimination.]
Lighter and taller equals a bigger paycheck for immigrants
Release Date: Jan 25, 2007
A new study by Vanderbilt University Professor of Law and Economics Joni Hersch found legal immigrants in the United States with a lighter skin tone made more money than those with darker skin.
Professor Hersch used data from 2,084 men and women who participated in the 2003 New Immigrant Survey. An interviewer reported the person’s skin color using an 11-point scale where 0 represented the absence of color and 10 represented the darkest possible skin color.
Even when taking into consideration characteristics that might affect wages, such as English language proficiency, work experience and education, Professor Hersch found immigrants with the lightest skin color earned, on average, 8 percent to 15 percent more than immigrants with the darkest skin tone. She said the effect of skin color even persisted among workers with the same ethnicity, race and country of origin.
Professor Hersch’s research also found height played a part in salary. Taller immigrants earned more, with every inch adding an additional 1 percent to wages.
Professor Hersch considered various explanations for skin color’s effect on wages, such as discrimination in country of birth, the possibility that darker skin color is caused by outdoor work, which is lower paying, and interviewer bias. After ruling out those explanations, she concluded that discrimination is the strongest explanation for why lighter and taller immigrants make more money.
“I was surprised and dismayed at how strong and persistent the skin color effect was even after I considered a whole series of alternative interpretations and explanations,” she said.
Professor Hersch will present her research at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) conference on Feb. 19.
http://law.vanderbilt.edu/article-search/article-detail/index.aspx?nid=84
June 12th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Joni Hersch,
I would be interested in getting a copy of your complete paper. These findings seem consistent with those found in Dion, K.; Berscheild, E., and Walster, E. (1986). What is beautiful is good, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, (24:285-290); and Bull, R. (1986). In Brown, Roger. Social Psychology: The Second Edition (pp. 391-393). Also in Roger Brown, study by Landy and Sigall.
Gregorio Billikopf
University of California
June 13th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
It looks like you can get a copy of the paper at SSRN:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=927038
Abstract:
Whether and how quickly immigrants assimilate into the U.S. labor market is an issue of great policy importance and controversy. Using newly-available data from the New Immigrant Survey 2003, this paper shows that new lawful immigrants to the U.S. who have lighter skin color and are taller have higher earnings, controlling for extensive labor market and immigration status information, as well as for education, English language proficiency, outdoor work, occupation, ethnicity, race, and country of birth. Immigrants with the lightest skin color earn on average 8 to 15 percent more than comparable immigrants with the darkest skin tone. Each extra inch of height is associated with a 1 percent increase in wages. The skin color advantage is not due to preferential treatment of those with lighter skin color in country of birth or to interviewer bias. The findings of this paper are consistent with discrimination against new immigrants on the basis of skin color.