That was the disturbing revelation in a recent study by Taylor H. Cox Jr., a retired associate professor of organization behavior and human resource management at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The M.B.A.s averaged 10 years in the workforce and had been in their present jobs for seven years. They had changed jobs only once or twice. Minorities and women have a certain level of achievement but not necessarily equal financial returns. One is a difference in social connections and contacts with decision-makers that strengthen your bargaining position.
White males are more likely to have useful salary information.
Cox said the hiring officer may also assume that a woman or minority-group member is less sophisticated about negotiating and therefore may offer less money up front. Even though it is not always done consciously, the higher salaries paid white male M.B.A.s sound discriminatory. Anne Ladky, executive director of Women Employed, a Chicago-based nonprofit advocacy organization committed to women's economic advancement, agreed. But there always is an unexplained amount that we know is the result of straightforward discrimination. Even against M.B.A.s.