When US companies drug test, they wind up hiring more black people

[IronLionZion]

http://qz.com/210345/when-us-companies-drug-test-they-wind-up-hiring-more-black-people/


Today, almost half of all US jobs require a drug test, and it turns out that companies that test their employees hire more black people. But that’s not a result that reflects well on Americans.
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Abigail Wozniak, a Notre Dame labor economist, has developed a model to show how the rise of employee drug testing in the United States has affected different populations. What she found surprised her: In states where testing is prevalent thanks to supportive laws, black employment increased between 7% and 30%, and wages for black workers increased by between 1.4% and 13%.
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That’s surprising because in America’s often-misguided war on drugs, black people tend to suffer disproportionately—just look at the statistics on arrests and the controversy over “stop and frisk” policing tactics. There’s plenty of evidence that black and white Americans use illicit drugs at roughly the same rate, though white Americans are more likely than black Americans to abuse alcohol:

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But despite that, according to studies cited in the paper, there’s wide overestimation of black people’s drug use in the US by everyone from police to hiring managers to young black people themselves.

Cold hard indisputable truth can be an equalizing force in society.

[bananas]

1. Is Abigail related to "The Woz"? nt

[IronLionZion]

2. ???

I don't know what you're talking about.

[gollygee]

3. I had to look this up

www.answers.com/topic/stephen-wozniak
Stephen Wozniak, cofounder of Apple Computers, is often given credit for starting ..... Wozniak and Candi Clark had three children, Jesse, Sara, and Gary; they ...



No Abigails.

[treestar]

4. K&R

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Yes, this doesn't reflect well on Americans.

The thinking must be that the black guy is more likely to be on drugs, although that isn't backed by the numbers, and--whew!--this drug test shows he isn't, so now I can hire him.

I can just see somebody on Fox turning this into an affirmative action argument for broader drug testing.

[Egnever]

6. Interesting

...

[MohRokTah]

7. Those are some pretty astounding statistics.

Notice I didn't say surprising, though.

It's called social conditioning. Society conditions us to believe falsehoods that can be disproven with statistics just like what was presented in the article.

[IronLionZion]

8. Society often has very astounding assumptions that just aren't true

This situation with the drug testing was not that surprising, but it was disappointing that so many have the assumption that black people must be more likely to be on drugs, when they are actually more equal.

One of the most astounding, surprising, and disappointing statistics one will ever find in America is what type of people are assumed to be on some sort of food stamp or welfare or unemployment assistance, vs who is actually on assistance. Its disgusting.