Dissertation
Race, nativity, place of education and gender: determinants of labor market outcomes
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/112000
Abstract
My dissertation consists of two projects that jointly examine the economic integration of foreign-born and foreign-educated scientists and engineers in the U.S. labor market. For phase one of the dissertation, I conducted an experimental-designed survey with undergraduate students to examine the impacts of a fictitious job candidate’s race, nativity, place of education and gender on both labor market outcomes and performance evaluations. I find that among native-born White males, foreign-educated job candidates receive lower ratings on a number of work-related attributes, including efficiency, skill, intelligence and hardworking levels. Such negative influences of foreign credentials on performance evaluations are explained by both employers’ concern over quality of foreign credentials and pure discrimination. Furthermore, I find that foreign degree wage penalty for native-born Asian females could instead be foreign degree wage bonus for native-born White females. In addition, foreign credentials could result in negative evaluations among native-born White males but enhance the evaluations of native-born White females on intelligence level and cultural competence. For phase two of the dissertation, I analyzed 39 in-depth interviews with Chinese postdoctoral researchers and industry workers. Results suggest that due to structural constraints based on immigration policies and a lack of cultural capital, Chinese postdoctoral researchers and industry workers confronted different opportunity structures that influence their professional mobility in the U.S. academy and early career development in the private sector. By examining the underlying mechanisms driving the foreign degree wage penalty and how the impacts of foreign credentials differ by other status characteristics including race, nativity and gender as well as the factors influencing the work experiences of skilled Chinese immigrants in the United States, my dissertation provides new empirical evidence that helps us better understand the economic integration of foreign-born and foreign-educated scientists and engineers in the U.S. labor market.
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Details
- Title
- Race, nativity, place of education and gender: determinants of labor market outcomes
- Creators
- HONG ZHANG
- Contributors
- Julie A Kmec (Advisor)Christine Horne (Committee Member)Jennifer Sherman (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Sociology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 208
- Identifiers
- 99900581431901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation