An analysis of the impact of affirmative action programs on self-employment in the construction industry
By: David G. Blanchflower, Jon Wainwright.
Contributors: Wainwright, Jon S.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11793; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11793.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Discrimination in employment -- United States.; Construction industry -- Social aspects -- United States.; Minorities -- Employment -- United States.; Affirmative action programs -- United States.
Description: "The main findings of this paper are that despite the existence of various affirmative action programs designed to improve the position of women and minorities in public construction, little has changed in the last twenty five years.  We present evidence showing that where race conscious affirmative action programs exist they appear to generate significant improvements: when these programs are removed or replaced with race-neutral programs the utilization of minorities and women in public construction declines rapidly.  We show that the programs have not helped minorities to become self-employed or to raise their earnings over the period 1979-2004, using data from the Current Population Survey and the Census, but have improved the position of white females.  There has been a growth in incorporated self-employment rates of white women in construction such that currently their rate is significantly higher than that of white men.  The data are suggestive of the possibility that some of these companies are 'fronts' which are actually run by their white male spouses or sons to take advantage of the affirmative action programs.*Published: 1"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
Title from PDF file as viewed on 12/13/2005.
Also available in print.
System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.