Discrimination and the Effects of Drug Testing on Black Employment

A-Tier
Journal: Review of Economics and Statistics
Year: 2015
Volume: 97
Issue: 3
Pages: 548-566

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

A common assumption is that the rise of drug testing among U.S. employers must have had negative consequences for black employment. I use variation in the timing and nature of drug testing regulation to identify the impacts of testing on black hiring. I find that adoption of protesting legislation increases black employment in the testing sector by 7 percent to 30 percent and relative wages by 1.4 percent to 13.0 percent, with the largest shifts among low-skilled black men. The results are consistent with ex ante discrimination and suggest that drug testing may benefit African Americans by enabling nonusing blacks to prove their status to employers.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:tpr:restat:v:97:y:2015:i:2:p:548-566
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-29