Workplace Inequality: Challenges and Policies Essay

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It is important to note that workplace inequality is a major systemic and multifaceted challenge with implications on many aspects of barriers and obstacles. Addressing these unfair problems requires comprehensive solutions, which need to be both effective and practical. Among the most important ones include the historical development of the labor force and racial policies, the gender pay-gap, the lack of corporate accountability, and unethical hiring practices.

On the basis of the reading materials, it becomes evident that the sources of workplace inequality are numerous. It is stated that “women, minorities, and immigrants were a growing portion of the labor force in … the rapidly growing service sector … jobs in the service sector tended to be much worse” (Fantasia & Voss, 2004, p. 124). In other words, many valuable positions were historically occupied by white men, which leads to the second source, where Jim Crow laws and the New Deal promoted segregation and post-segregation division against people of color and immigrants (Omi & Winant, 2015). Therefore, the history of oppression of women, people of color, and immigrants led to the emergence of the workplace inequality one knows today.

Moreover, the inequality is a result of unethical hiring practices, the gender pay gap, and the lack of corporate accountability. For the gender pay gap, one should be aware that “we must focus on closing the gender wage gap and raising wages more generally” (Davis & Gould, 2015, para. 3). In the case of the lack of corporate accountability, this is enabled due to a poor state of organized labor in the country, which is why unions are additionally required (Loomis, 2017). Unethical hiring practices take the form of pre-hire personality testing, where potential employees who would demand higher wages and equality are rejected (Newman, 2017). Therefore, the most practical and effective policies in addressing these sources of inequality would be “pursuing policies that intentionally tilt bargaining power back toward low- and moderate-wage workers, and we must end discriminatory practices” (Davis & Gould, 2015, para. 3). In other words, it is not solely about closing the gap between genders or building a more inclusive workplace. Although these measures are important, the larger problem is decades-long stagnation in wages for all working people.

The proposed policy is a complex and comprehensive one, which includes boosting the bargaining power of workers, ending discriminatory practices, and raising wages, including minimum wage. The policy will both increase fairness within the workplace between workers of different races, genders, ages, and other characteristics as well as overall decrease inequality between the wealthy and workers as a whole (Davis & Gould, 2015). Bargaining power improvement will benefit all workers, and it will additionally prevent employers from being discriminatory against specific groups. Ending discriminatory practices will directly address workplace inequality on the basis of race, gender, age, and other characteristics, and it will lead to a higher number of equal workers with greater bargaining power. Raising wages will address the general inequality by creating a massive transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor. However, the major obstacles and challenges in implementing the policies will likely include political division, corporate lobbying, shift to international labor markets, and insufficient degree of change.

In conclusion, the historical shifts in the labor force and racial policies, gender pay gap, the lack of corporate accountability, and unethical hiring practices are the key sources of inequality in the workplace. The most effective and practical policy would be comprised of three measures such as boosting the bargaining power of workers, ending discriminatory practices, and raising wages. The policy needs to be designed and enforced by accounting for key barriers, which would be primarily placed by the industries and employers.

References

Davis, A., & Gould, E. (2015).. Economic Policy Institute.

Fantasia, R., & Voss, K. (2004). Hard work: Remaking the American labor movement. University of California Press.

Loomis, E. (2017). Dissent.

Newman, N. (2017). University of Cincinnati Law Review, 85, 693-760.

Omi, M., & Winant, H. (2015). Racial formation in the United States (3rd ed.). Routledge.

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