Publications [#365136] of William A. Darity

Journal Articles

1. Rosenblum, A; Darity, W; Harris, AL; Hamilton, TG, Looking through the Shades: The Effect of Skin Color on Earnings by Region of Birth and Race for Immigrants to the United States, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, vol. 2 no. 1 (January, 2016), pp. 87-105 [doi]
   (last updated on 2026/01/16)

   Abstract:
   The purpose of this study is to determine whether a labor market penalty exists for members of immigrant groups as a result of being phenotypically different from white Americans. Specifically, the authors examine the link between skin shade, perhaps the most noticeable phenotypical characteristic, and wages for immigrants from five regions: (1) Europe and Central Asia; (2) China, East Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific; (3) Latin America and the Caribbean; (4) Sub-Saharan Africa; and (5) the Middle East and North Africa. Using data from the New Immigrant Survey, a nationally representative multi-cohort longitudinal study of new legal immigrants to the United States, the authors find a skin shade penalty in wages for darker immigrants. However, disaggregating by region of origin shows that this finding is driven exclusively by the experience of immigrants from Latin America; the wage penalty for skin tone is substantial for self-reported nonblack Latin American immigrants. The effects of colorism are much less pronounced or nonexistent among other national-origin populations. Furthermore, although a skin shade penalty is not discernible among African immigrants, findings show that African immigrants experience a racial wage penalty.