What Explains Racial/Ethnic Inequality in Job Quality in the Service Sector?

Abstract

Precarious work in the United States is defined by both economic and temporal dimensions. While a large literature documents the extent of low-wages and limited fringe benefits, research has only recently examined the prevalence and consequences of unstable and unpredictable work schedules. Yet, it appears that such practices as on-call shifts, last minute cancellations, and insufficient work hours are common in the retail and food service sectors. While little research has examined racial/ethnic inequality in this temporal dimension of job quality, precarious scheduling practices may be a significant, if mostly hidden, site for racial/ethnic inequality because scheduling practices differ significantly between firms and because front-line managers have substantial discretion in scheduling. We draw on innovative matched employer-employee data from The Shift Project to estimate racial/ethnic gaps in these temporal dimensions of job quality and examine the contribution of firm-level sorting and intra-organizational dynamics to these gaps. We find significant racial/ethnic gaps in exposure to precarious scheduling that disadvantage non-White workers. We provide novel evidence that both firm segregation and racial discordance between workers and managers play significant roles in explaining racial/ethnic gaps in job quality. Notably, we find that racial/ethnic gaps are larger for women than for men.