does affirmative action work?

Affirmative action is intended to remedy the effects of discrimination against women and minorities in the labor market. While discrimination against women appears to have declined, the research evidence indicates that women and minorities continue to face significant labor market problems. For instance, statistical analyses of earnings data generally indicate that there is still a sizable sex and race wage gap, even after controlling for education, experience, occupation, industry, and other factors that might explain why women and minorities earn less than white men. In the last 30 years, a number of studies have attempted to assess whether affirmative action programs lead to greater employment and advancement of women and minorities. Because affirmative action is a loose amalgamation of many different employer practices, good data on its impact have been hard to come by. However, the general consensus is that women and minorities have indeed benefited at least modestly from affirmative action.