What Promises Are Worth: The Impact of Affirmative Action Goals
Abstract
Affirmative action goals and timetables for the employment of minorities and females have been criticized by some as being ineffective,and by others as being a system of rigid quotas. Using new data from OFCCP administrative records, this paper estimates the impact of detailed regulatory pressure on goals and on subsequent employment demographics. It also tests for the information content of the goals.While the goals are inflated and are not being fulfilled with the rigidity one might expect of quotas, the establishments that promise to employ more minorities and females do actually employ more in subsequent years. While the detailed enforcement tools of the compliance review process are of doubtful utility, the system of affirmative action goals does appear to have prompted increases in minority and female employment at reviewed establishments.Download Info
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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 1346.Length:
Date of creation: May 1984
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:1346
Note: LS
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- Jonathan S. Leonard, 1985. "What Promises Are Worth: The Impact of Affirmative Action Goals," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 20(1), pages 3-20.
References
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- Morris Goldstein & Robert S. Smith, 1976. "The estimated impact of the antidiscrimination program aimed at federal contractors," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 29(4), pages 523-543, July.
- Leonard, Jonathan S, 1984.
"The Impact of Affirmative Action on Employment,"
Journal of Labor Economics,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 2(4), pages 439-63, October.
- Jonathan S. Leonard, 1984. "The Impact of Affirmative Action on Employment," NBER Working Papers 1310, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Orley Ashenfelter & James Heckman, .
"Measuring the Effect of an Antidiscrimination Program,"
Working Papers
432, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
- Orley Ashenfelter & James J. Heckman, 1974. "Measuring the Effect of an Anti-Discrimination Program," NBER Working Papers 0050, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Richard Butler & James J. Heckman, 1977. "The Government's Impact on the Labor Market Status of Black Americans: A Critical Review," NBER Working Papers 0183, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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