In this study we develop a model to decompose the longer unemployment
duration of blacks into discriminatory and non-discriminatory componen
ts. By extending Becker's theory of discrimination to job-search theor
y, the discriminatory component is seen to be the result of two separa
te effects. First, a white treatment advantage shortens the unemployme
nt duration of whites because they receive more frequent and higher wa
ge offers than would prevail in the absence of discrimination for work
ing alongside blacks. Second, a black treatment disadvantage lengthens
the jobless spell of blacks because blacks receive lower wage offers
than would prevail without discrimination as discriminating employers
extract quasi-rents from their labour. We estimate our model using dat
a from the CPS Displaced Workers Survey. The results show that 3.81 of
the 4.58 weeks longer unemployment spell for blacks is due to discrim
ination, with 3.11 weeks resulting from the white treatment advantage,
and 0.7 weeks emanating from the black treatment disadvantage.