Employment exits and the race gap in young women's employment

Objective. A race gap in employment that disadvantages young African-American women has emerged for the first time in U.S. history. This article addresses the extent to which race differences in employment entry, exits, or both are responsible for the gap. Methods. The article relies on event-history analysis using NLSY data. Results. Analyses show that differences in rates of exit, not entry, explain the race gap. Factors encouraging higher exit rates among African-American than white women include lower AFQT scores and greater numbers of children. Conclusion. These findings raise questions about the utility of focusing on employment processes at the point of employment entry, at least for processes involving young women. The importance of exits in understanding race differences in women's employment calls attention to processes within firms that present barriers to African-American women.