The relationship of earning differences and attitudes towards ethnic minority groups in Sweden : a study describing the effect of negative attitudes towards ethnic minority groups on the earning differences in Sweden

Abstract: This study investigates the potential effects of negative attitudes towards minority groups on the earnings gap between natives and ethnic minorities on the Swedish labour market. Previous studies have shown signs of earning differences between the two groups on the Swedish labour market and authors use several arguments to explain this. Some authors state that firms use statistical discrimination and taste discrimination to set wages and thus affecting the difference in earnings for natives and immigrants. Other authors use lack of social networks or human capital as explanations for the existing wage gap. The results of this study show that there are indeed earning differences between between natives and immigrants and that discrimination is possibly an explanation factor. This study also shows that there is a higher negative attitude towards minorities than there is for positive attitudes. We find however no direct connection between the earning gap and negative attitudes since the variable is insignificant. The reason for this is most lkely due to the earning gap being a very broad concept and thus affected by many different factors. This suggestion follows the outcome of previously written studies.