WHEN IT COMES to landing that perfect job, it’s often about “who you
know.” But in a recently published study, two sociologists suggest that,
when it comes to taking advantage of social networks, black job seekers
and white job seekers don’t reap the same benefits.
David S. Pedulla of Stanford University in California and the late
Devah Pager of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
examined survey data that tracked 2,060 job seekers in the U.S. over
18 months—of these individuals, 1,617 were non-Hispanic white or
black. Job seekers reported how many applications they sent out,
how they heard about job openings (including whether it was through
someone in their personal networks or someone they knew at the
organization), and whether they received job offers.
Pedulla and Pager discovered that,
while similar numbers of black and
white job seekers reported learning
of open positions through their social
networks, the applications of white job
seekers were more likely to result in job
offers. “The positive returns to network
search are nearly twice the size for
white respondents as they are for black
respondents,” write the co-authors.
“African American job seekers would
need to utilize roughly twice as many
network contacts as white job seekers to
accrue the same labor market benefit.”
The study suggests two potential
sources of this disparity: network
placement and network mobilization.
That is, people in the networks of black
individuals might not be as strategically
positioned or have as many applicable
resources as those in the networks of
white individuals. The researchers
estimate that these two factors could
explain approximately one-fifth of the
black-white disparity in job offers that
result from social networking.
The researchers mention other
factors that could affect outcomes—
for instance, people in a black job
seeker’s network might be less likely to
mobilize their resources if they suspect
that potential employers discriminate
based on race.
“Our findings point to the subtle
processes at play in the perpetuation of
racial labor market stratification,” the
co-authors write. “Racial discrimination
in hiring and other aspects of the
employment process remain strong and
persistent, but interventions that target
these more subtle dynamics may also
be important for reducing racial labor
market inequalities.”
“Race and Networks in the Job Search Process” was first published online
November 7, 2019, in the American
Sociological Review.