The role of supervisor race and gender on promotion likelihood

Using a nationally representative sample of workers from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we study the role of supervisor race and gender on employees' promotion likelihoods. We use an endogenous switching model to account for the selection issue of employees and supervisors self-selecting into employment with each other. We find both male and female employees have lower promotion likelihoods when they have a female supervisor compared with a male supervisor. We find black employees have a higher promotion likelihood with a white supervisor compared with a black supervisor. We find no evidence that the supervisor's race or gender has an effect on the return to promotion. The results add to the growing literature on the role of supervisors on labor market outcomes.