英国国家经济和社会研究所-收入分配中民族工资差距的企业会计处理（英）-2025.6_52页_1mb

Summary of the Document: "Accounting for Firms in Ethnic Wage Gaps Across the Earnings Distribution"

Core Content

This paper investigates the role of firms in shaping ethnic wage gaps in England and Wales, using a newly created employer-employee dataset called ASHE-Census, which links the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) with the 2011 Census data. The study aims to understand whether wage disparities between ethnic groups are primarily due to differences within firms or between firms, and how these disparities vary across the earnings distribution and by gender.

Main Findings

• Ethnic Wage Gaps Exist Across the Earnings Distribution: Substantial unexplained wage gaps exist for ethnic minority groups compared to white workers, both for men and women.
• Predominantly Within-Firm Disparities: These gaps are largely within firms rather than between them, suggesting that firm-level practices play a significant role in ethnic wage disparities.
• Heterogeneity by Ethnic Group and Gender: The patterns of wage gaps differ significantly by ethnic group and gender. For example, among men, Chinese and Indian workers have higher wages, while Bangladeshi workers are the most poorly paid.
• Unexplained Gaps Are Significant: Even after accounting for observable worker characteristics (such as education, experience, and health), significant unexplained wage gaps persist, particularly for higher earners.
• Implications for Policy: The findings suggest that the UK's current gender pay gap reporting requirements should be expanded to include ethnicity pay gaps, as most of the wage disadvantage for ethnic minorities occurs within firms.

Key Points

1. Data and Methodology

• Data Source: The ASHE-Census dataset combines payroll data from the 2011 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings with personal and family characteristics from the 2011 Census.
• Sample Focus: The study focuses on employees aged 25–64 who did not lose pay and were not paid at an apprentice rate.
• Wage Measures: The paper uses both gross hourly earnings (including overtime) and basic hourly wages (excluding overtime) to analyze wage gaps.
• Methodology: The authors use an extension of the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method applied to unconditional quantile regression to assess the contribution of firm-specific wage effects and worker characteristics to ethnic wage gaps.

2. Wage Gap Patterns

• Chinese and Indian Workers: Earn the highest mean hourly wages, with relatively smaller unexplained gaps compared to other ethnic groups.
• Black Caribbean and Bangladeshi Workers: Earn the lowest mean wages, with large unexplained gaps, especially among men.
• Gender Differences: While wage rankings by ethnicity are similar for men and women, the unexplained gaps vary significantly by gender.
• Within-Firm vs. Between-Firm Effects: Most of the wage gaps are unexplained within firms, not between them, indicating that firm-specific practices and policies have a major influence on ethnic wage disparities.

3. Policy Implications

• Need for Ethnic Pay Gap Reporting: The paper argues that the UK's current gender pay gap reporting should be extended to include ethnicity pay gaps, as these are primarily within-firm phenomena.
• Firm Influence on Pay: Firms have a substantial influence on wage outcomes, particularly through discriminatory practices in pay and promotion, which may be legal but still contribute to wage gaps.
• Potential for Change: By understanding the role of firms, policymakers may be better equipped to design interventions that address ethnic wage gaps effectively.

4. Limitations and Contributions

• Sample Size: The study benefits from a larger sample size compared to previous research, allowing for more detailed analysis of wage gaps across different ethnic groups and genders.
• Methodological Advancement: The use of precise payroll data and decomposition methods provides a more accurate picture of wage disparities than traditional household survey data.
• Future Research: The paper highlights the need for further studies using updated census data linked to more recent ASHE surveys to capture current wage gap dynamics.

Conclusion

The paper demonstrates that ethnic wage gaps in the UK are largely unexplained within firms, and that these gaps are not uniform across the earnings distribution or by gender. The findings emphasize the importance of firm-level policies and practices in shaping wage outcomes for ethnic minority workers and suggest that expanding current pay gap reporting to include ethnicity could lead to more effective policy interventions.