Combining Preferences and Processes: An Integrated Approach to Black‐White Labor Market Inequality

Abstract

This article offers an innovative theoretical approach to black‐white labor market inequality that combines components of threat, spatial mismatch, and urban decline theories in a queuing framework. Using a unique measure—the earnings gap between black and white workers resulting from sorting into different occupations within an occupationally and educationally delimited labor queue—the author tests hypotheses from the combined model. Results show support for the combined model, as characteristics of labor and job queues significantly influence the extent of black‐white inequality. Variables representing employers’ preferences for or against hiring black workers are also significant, suggesting the utility of jointly examining preferences and processes in the labor market.