My co-workers, my pay, our inequality regime: a relational inequality model

Abstract We conceptualize within job group income distributions as the outcome of claims-making over organizational resources. We examine same job group co-workers by race/gender in all U.S. state and local government workplaces. Findings show that 81% of the time White men earn more than the average worker with whom they share a workplace and job group. Conversely, Black and Hispanic women are disadvantaged respectively 83% and 84% of the time. On average White men’s earnings are higher when they share jobs with almost all other status groups, most robustly with all women and Black men. White women see consistent earnings advantages when their co-workers are Black or Hispanic women, but often also profit when working with Black men. Other race/gender groups experience more variation in their earnings relative to co-workers, but within racial groups men tend to benefit from same race women co-workers. We further explore variation in these patterns based on organizational racialization, finding that when managers are predominantly Black or Hispanic, White earning advantages shrink. This advantage is not sensitive to whether management is dominated by White men or White women.