The Signaling Effects Of Drug Testing

May 19, 2014 in Daily Bulletin

The war on drugs is widely thought to unfairly target black people. There may be a silver lining though writes Tim Fernholz:

  • Mandatory employee drug testing has become increasingly frequent.
  • Yet unlike other anti-drug programs this seems to help black people.
  • According to one study states in which such testing is common, black employment increases by up to 30%, and wages for black people by up to 13%.
  • Researchers speculate that it is because employers overestimate the amount of drugs taken by black people. Mandatory drug testing shatters those perceptions with hard fact.
  • Perhaps this is why black people have increasingly approved of drug testing, while older and more educated workers dislike it.

Read more about the study, its results, and the White House position that the author of the study will take up over here.

Source: Quartz