Wages of Arab and Muslims men working in the United States declined by 10% in the years following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, a new study shows, according to Reuters news agency.
The drop in earnings was most dramatic in areas that have high rates of hate crimes, according to the study, due to be published in the Journal of Human Resources.
The study looked at 4,300 Arab and Muslim men, ages 21-54, from the 20 U.S. states where 85% of all Arab and Muslim Americans live. It also used hate crime data from the FBI.
The researchers examined changes in wages of first- and second-generation immigrants coming from predominantly Arab or Muslim countries from Sept. 1997 to Sept. 2005. They then compared them to changes in the wages of immigrants with similar skills from other countries.
The average wage was about $20 an hour ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks, and dropped by $2 an hour after them, Robert Kaestner, co-author of the study and a University of Illinois at Chicago professor of economics, said on Thursday.
The drop in wages persisted through 2004 but showed signs of abating in 2005, he added.
The study also found that wages dropped between 12 and 13% after 9/11 in areas with high rate of hate crimes, compared to 6 to 7% in areas with lower-than-average hate crimes rate.
"I was surprised," Kaestner said. "We see an immediate and significant connection between personal prejudice and economic harm."
Trying to find explanations, the study found that Arab and Muslim men were 20% less likely to move within the state they lived after 9/11. This could affect their ability to get better paying jobs, according to Kaestner.
"I think it's clear that the impact of anti-Muslim bias is more than just a hate crime or an overt act of discrimination," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.
"I think the study shows that bias and prejudice can have an impact on many levels in the society and many levels within an individual's life," he said.
AlJazeera
The drop in earnings was most dramatic in areas that have high rates of hate crimes, according to the study, due to be published in the Journal of Human Resources.
The study looked at 4,300 Arab and Muslim men, ages 21-54, from the 20 U.S. states where 85% of all Arab and Muslim Americans live. It also used hate crime data from the FBI.
The researchers examined changes in wages of first- and second-generation immigrants coming from predominantly Arab or Muslim countries from Sept. 1997 to Sept. 2005. They then compared them to changes in the wages of immigrants with similar skills from other countries.
The average wage was about $20 an hour ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks, and dropped by $2 an hour after them, Robert Kaestner, co-author of the study and a University of Illinois at Chicago professor of economics, said on Thursday.
The drop in wages persisted through 2004 but showed signs of abating in 2005, he added.
The study also found that wages dropped between 12 and 13% after 9/11 in areas with high rate of hate crimes, compared to 6 to 7% in areas with lower-than-average hate crimes rate.
"I was surprised," Kaestner said. "We see an immediate and significant connection between personal prejudice and economic harm."
Trying to find explanations, the study found that Arab and Muslim men were 20% less likely to move within the state they lived after 9/11. This could affect their ability to get better paying jobs, according to Kaestner.
"I think it's clear that the impact of anti-Muslim bias is more than just a hate crime or an overt act of discrimination," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.
"I think the study shows that bias and prejudice can have an impact on many levels in the society and many levels within an individual's life," he said.
AlJazeera
