BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JANUARY 22, 2001 ISSUE
ECONOMIC TRENDS Who Gains Most by Job-Hopping? White male MBAs are big winners A basic reality of corporate life is that many managers often change employers in mid-career to boost their salaries--and so profit from the willingness of companies to pay substantial premiums to obtain experienced seasoned workers from outside their own organizations. A recent study in the Academy of Management Journal finds, however, that the job-hopping strategy pays off far more for white males than for females or minorities. The study by George F. Dreher of Indiana University and Taylor H. Cox Jr. of the University of Michigan drew on a survey of 700 MBAs in their late 30s working full-time for a variety of businesses in the early 1990s. Some 52% were white males, 25% white and minority females, and 23% minority males, of which 70% were African American. Adjusting for job tenure and other factors, the researchers found that among white men, those who had jumped ship at least once earned nearly $25,000 more than those who stayed put. By contrast, job-hopping minority men earned only $9,000 more than their less mobile peers, minority women gained a mere $5,000, and white women averaged just $10,000 more. Why are gains from job mobility so much greater for white men? After considering a number of possible explanations, the authors conclude that differences in social connections and plain discrimination are the likeliest culprits. By GENE KORETZ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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