Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1

Race and Economic level effect on employment in the U.S.

Your Name

Stephen F. Austin State University

Author Note

This proposal is for PSY 341-Research Design, Fall 2019.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 2

Introduction.

Despite the increasing diversity of people living in the United States, race and

employment remain to be a theme of controversy for researchers. This is evident in the labor

market as a person's chances of employment or level of earning are likely to be determined by

their race. The labor queue states some preferences that employers in the U.S. apply when

recruiting. Among them, one of the most prevalent in the race. All people live in a race-conscious

society where job applicants are grouped on racial and ethnic considerations. As Waldinger

(1999) puts it, the whites lead the queue, followed by the Asians, Hispanics, and lastly, the

Blacks. Using this queueing explanation, you can examine the employment status and the

earning among the four races (Djamba, 1999). What effect does it have on the races that are less

considered like the Blacks? In this paper, we will use data from the various U.S. surveys to

examine the influence that this condition has on employment status. Our fundamental hypothesis

is focused on the Blacks who seem to have reserved the slightest share from the racial

composition. The results of this study challenge the use of the labor queue theory, which appears

to be having an ethnically detrimental experience to the U.S. labor market. Due to the nature of

employment and earning between genders, we will focus on the situation of men in this study.

Independent Variable 1.

There are two sets in independent variable 1 in this study: 1) personal earnings, and 2) the labor

market. The definition "working" is applied in this study as we are interested in the people that

should be having a job but are not presently employed. The personal earnings will be measured

on an annual basis and in consideration of the numbers from the previous financial year. The

analysis of labor participation in its case shows that a person is not working at the time of data

collection of the earnings. The analysis has also been done on individuals above 16 years, which
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is the official working age in the U.S.

Independent Variable 2.

There are two sets of Independent variable 2: 1) the social demographic variables, which

include the duration that the person has been living in the U.S. since their immigration, and 2)

race, which defines a racial composition that provides for white, black and others.

Race.

The Blacks are persons born in Africa but identified themselves as Blacks in the American

Community Survey Questionnaire. The second category of "whites" is the persons born in Africa

but identified themselves as whites in the American Community Survey Questionnaire. The

category of "others" are all people who migrated to the U.S. and did not record themselves in

either the category of blacks or whites.

Social demographic variables.

There are beliefs and characteristics among immigrants that family and individual resources

determine the chances of getting an occupation in the labor market. This reasoning on human

capital frameworks is used as the benchmark for significant labor market theories. Concerning

this reasoning, this study identified several other variables that contribute to the social-economic

conditions of the immigrants: this included age, education, and native language proficiency.

The educational classification is based on the level of schooling (primary, secondary, and

tertiary). However, the levels vary between countries, and we choose the most education system.

The school enrollment variable is a significant concern that affects the immigrant's chance for an

employment opportunity and the level of earnings. Although the visa does not a document about

the school enrollment history, it's a proxy for legal employment authorization. For instance,

immigrants who are in the U.S. for study purposes may not be allowed to work in the United
RESEARCH PROPOSAL 4

States. English proficiency is the other crucial determinant of employment. American society

believes that those with a high command of English have higher earnings (Chiswick & Miller,

2009). The command for English can be gauged as very good, good, and not good.

Other important variables to the labor market entry are sex and marital status. However,

there are sex differences in the age of working entry, and we may be forced to view it as gender.

In this study, our primary focus is on men. The place of residence is the last social demographic

variable we are going to look at. It takes roughly 10-15 years for an immigrant to complete their

assimilation process, and that's the point where the residence variable comes into play

(Abramitzky, Boustan, & Eriksson, 2014). The geographic effects are a massive determinant as

the immigrants have to acquire the culture and language of the people living in those areas

(Foner, 1997). The arguments suggest that, at times, the immigrants settle in areas that are not

known for greater participation in the labor market. As a result, their earnings remain low due to

low local market opportunities.

Current Study

There are two types of data used in this study: decennial census data (1980, 1990, and

2000), and 2) the 2008 American Community Survey data as defined by Neuhaus (1998). These

data have been retrieved from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS), which is a

microdata extraction system that records all the characteristics that can be numerically coded.

The study uses the data to show the changes in male composition due to black immigrants in the

United States. The data has also helped in studying how working-age perceives the significance

of race as depicted by the labor queue theory. From the data, we can learn the White African

immigrants have better chances for employment opportunities that the black African male

immigrants. While the study of immigration has been an essential topic of research, African
RESEARCH PROPOSAL 5

migration, and their insertion into the United States labor market has not been researched in

depth. This study discusses the perspective of the prevailing job market practices to construct a

theoretical framework that will explain the insertion of African immigrants. It should serve as a

spotlight on the challenges that they face while looking for opportunities once they arrive in the

United States.

Method

Participants

There will be 3750 participants recruited to partake in the present study. Participants will

be recruited from Stephen F. Austin State University through SONA systems. Age is expected to

be 18- 64 years, and ethnicity and gender will reflect the composition of Stephen F. Austin State

University psychology undergraduates. The participants will be selected using the area

probability sample to provide a representative distribution of the U.S. residents. Participants in

this study will earn partial course credit.

Materials

Name of Material 1. Share of total employed people by race and ethnicity.

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Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population

Survey: Employed persons by detailed occupation, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity,"

available at https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat11.htm (last accessed June 2019).

Name of Material 2: Job openings for the field experiment data.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL 7
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Source: Field Experiment data.

Procedure

This study is based on data from multiple sources. Using an informative analysis approach of

educational research from the social data research methodology, this study will address the gap

in the literature review by providing a pragmatic report of findings that can be used in making

informed decisions and for other educational research reports.

Expected Results

Together, all the data analyzed in this study are aligned with the predictions of

demonstrating how racial discrimination affects employment status, especially on African

immigrants. The interpretation here is critical because the unemployment conditions that result
RESEARCH PROPOSAL 9

from racial discrimination will only penalize the African and not the whites. However, the

African immigrants who are lucky to maintain a continuous job cannot be counted among the

empirical traction of the labor queue theory. The study also expects to drive traction that can

change the mechanism of hiring in the U.S. labor market by integrating empirical findings. This

study also intends to learn about the changes in the composition of male African immigrants and

their sociodemographic characteristics. Then, we can determine the labor participation among the

African immigrant males at its effect on theory earning trajectory.

Discussion

Immigration remains one of the issues for divisive debates in the United States. Indeed,

all new arrivals encounter challenges in the new labor market. They often find it hard to get a

suitable employment opportunity that suites the professional qualifications that will enable them

to attain the adequate economic returns that they expect. These challenges are further augmented

by other factors such as restriction to access certain information, language proficiency, racial

bias, lack of personal contact with the new culture, among others. However, as the immigrants

stay longer, they begin to overcome the obstacles, although it's not a condition that they expect to

diminish. Some studies have documented differences in terms of the economic cost of

immigration (Kollehlon, & Eule, 2003). They have noted that some groups receive better

treatment from the host country. This makes their integration into the current socioeconomic

practices easier. This circumstance may hinder or enhance the achievements of the immigrants in

the host country. Others have pointed out specific sociocultural and ecological factors that make

it tough for some groups to quickly integrate into the host country (Poston, 1994). Further

argument was on geographical areas. The areas where the immigrants choose to settle play a

critical role in their occupational endeavors. Some areas have distinctive labor market practices
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that limit opportunities for some groups, say black immigrants. This study extends previous

research by examining the underlying influence of race on employment status in the U.S. The

study covers African immigrants to the U.S. (1980-2008, which is the period that recorded an

insurgence of the movement of Africans to the United States).

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References

Abramitzky, R., Boustan, L. P., & Eriksson, K. (2014). A nation of immigrants: Assimilation and

economic outcomes in the age of mass migration. Journal of Political Economy, 122(3), 467-506.

Chiswick, B., & Miller, P. (2009). Occupational language requirements and the value of English

in the U.S. labor market. Journal Of Population Economics, 23(1), 353-372. doi:

10.1007/s00148-008-0230-7

Djamba, Y. K. (1999). African migration to the United States: volume trends and employment

opportunities.

Foner, N. (1997). The Immigrant Family: Cultural Legacies and Cultural Changes. International

Migration Review, 31(4), 961-974. doi: 10.1177/019791839703100407

Neuhaus, P. (1998). United States Bureau of the Census989United States Bureau of the Census.

United States Bureau of the Census, URL: http//www.census.gov. Electronic Resources Review,

2(2), 10-11. doi: 10.1108/err.1998.2.2.10.9

Kollehlon, K. T., & Eule, E. E. (2003). The socioeconomic attainment patterns of Africans in the

United States. International Migration Review, 37(4), 1163-1190.

Poston Jr, D. L. (1994). Patterns of economic attainment of foreign-born male workers in the

United States. International Migration Review, 28(3), 478-500.

Waldinger, R. D. (1999). Still the promised city?: African-Americans and new immigrants in

postindustrial New York. Harvard University Press.

Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. (2019). Retrieved 23 November 2019, from

https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook