The Shift to Stock-Based Compensation and the Asian American–White Pay Gap Revisited

Financialization of the US economy has brought about major historical change in compensation practices. In addition to traditional cash wages, American employers increasingly provide workers with compensation based in part on company stock, and 23 percent of US private-sector employees now receive stock-based compensation. This study is among the first to examine the implications of this shift for Asian Americans’ labor market attainment. Analysis of the General Social Survey (GSS) and the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) shows that Asian Americans, on average, are more likely to receive stock-based compensation than Whites, in part because they are more likely to work in jobs where it is provided. However, the two groups are equally likely to receive stock-based compensation and similar amounts in these jobs.