The Results Are In: Drug Tests Are Positive

Career advancement isn’t one of the first things we associate with drug tests. However, in her recent paper, “Discrimination and the Effects of Drug Testing on Black Employment,” University of Notre Dame economist Abigail Wozniak contends that drug testing could be a boon to African American job seekers.

Citing the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), Wozniak reports that although there is typically variation in the type of illegal drugs used by African Americans and whites, African Americans and whites reported drug use at nearly identical rates (12 percent for African Americans and 13 percent for whites) in the survey. Despite this, Wozniak found that hiring managers believe African Americans are more likely to fail a drug test. Consequently, she suggests that drug tests can be used as a means for African Americans to demonstrate to employers that they are not using drugs and eliminate this bias.

In the study, Wozniak found that following the inception of employer drug testing, employment of non-drug users increased in the industries that used drug screening. Relative to states without pro-testing laws, Wozniak found that pro-drug testing legislation increased the share of low-skilled African American men working in high-drug testing industries by seven to 10 percent, while wages increased by three to four percent. When comparing these proportions in high-drug testing industries relative to states with anti-drug testing laws (those states that barred drug testing in certain industries), the increases in employment were more pronounced, with a 30 percent increase in the proportion of low-skilled African American men working, as well as a seven to 10 percent increase in wages. Wozniak also observed similar increases for group health and pension plan coverage.

Wozniak believes that her findings are consistent with widespread discrimination against African Americans by firms prior to the advent of drug testing. She finds that information available through drug tests clearly impact African American hiring, which might suggest that employers are discriminating based on their racial perceptions of workers. This ex ante bias might arise if employers had information about African American drug use that was correct on average, but imprecise relative to that for whites; or because employers held beliefs about African American drug use that were inaccurate relative to their beliefs about whites on average.

Wozniak’s findings subvert common societal perceptions regarding drug testing and the correlation between race and drug usage. Considering the increases of low-skilled African American men in the workforce after the implementation of pro-drug testing legislation and the perception that African Americans use drugs at a higher rate, it appears that, in general, hiring managers have been hesitant to hire African Americans because of suspected drug use.

Research in other areas lends support to Wozniak’s overall thesis. In a 2003 research article, Devah Pager, a sociologist at Northwestern University, found that a white person with a criminal record was more likely to be called back for an interview than an African American without a criminal record. While drug testing may be able to help address certain types of hiring discrimination experienced by African Americans, policy interventions that seek to prevent other forms of employment discrimination may be more difficult to implement.

Feature Photo: cc/Life Mental Health