Policies aimed at reducing racial wage inequality should be geographically targeted

Despite the progress made in Civil Rights since the 1960s there are still huge wage disparities between black and white workers in America. In new research that examines wage disparities in metropolitan areas in the U.S., Craig Kerr finds that the idea of a national wage gap is misleading. Instead, he argues that wage disparities often differ markedly between different cities and regions due to factors that include black population numbers, workplace discrimination, union membership, segregation, and incarceration rates. With this in mind, he writes that policies aimed at reducing wage inequalities should be targeted at specific areas, rather than using a one size fits all approach.