Africans in the diaspora: Black-white earnings differences among America's Africans

The condition of Africans in the diaspora proffers insight into not just their adaptation to their new countries, but also the nature of racial stratification at their destinations. We examine race differences in earnings between black and white Africans in America and find sizeable differences among immigrants who have relatively similar human capital profiles. Whites have annual earnings 80 per cent higher than their black counterparts, and the gap in hourly wage is almost 48 per cent. More significantly, more than half (53 per cent) of the race difference in wages remains unexplained by earnings-related attributes such as education, occupation, and hours worked. We discuss these results against the backdrop of the ongoing debate on discrimination and the significance of race for socio-economic attainment in America.