Statistical Discrimination

USUAL WEEKLY EARNINGS OF WAGE AND SALARY WORKERS

FOURTH QUARTER 2011

Among the major race and ethnicity groups, median weekly earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $660 per week, or 75.8 percent of the median for white men ($871). The difference was less among women, as black women's median earnings ($601) were 84.8 percent of those for white women ($709). Overall, median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time ($537) were lower than those of blacks ($621), whites ($786), and Asians ($880).

This statistic was located on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website and was posted on January 24, 2012.

Discrimination is exemplified in this statistic because it shows the inequality in income by both race and gender. This racial and gender inequality in income is due to relative deprivation from statistical and institutional discrimination. Institutional discrimination is inequality that is integrated into policies, such an in organizations or corporations. Statistical discrimination is unfair treatment of an individual based on race or gender. This is due to people accepting stereotypes of a race or gender and assuming that the individual has those characteristics as well. This is portrayed in the picture that I have selected. The picture shows a minority woman observing a white woman being promoted by her also white superior. The woman looks frustrated and is saying “How come she got promoted after a week, when I’ve been here a year?” I think that this is a perfect depiction of statistical discrimination. The minority woman is most likely not being promoted due to the white managers stereotype of her race. He may assume that she has similar characteristics to other people of her race and he chooses instead to promote the new white female employee.