While we’d all like to think that if we work hard and are good at our job we’ll earn that raise we so richly deserve, but a new study finds that there are some groups of people who are less likely to earn that raise regardless of whether they deserve it or not.
A new report by Payscale finds that compared to white men, men of color are the least likely to get raises when they ask for them. In fact, they were 25% less likely to get that bump in salary, while women of color were 19% less likely. Meanwhile, overall, women asking for raises are less likely to receive them then men, but the survey found women are also less likely to ask, with 26% saying they are uncomfortable negotiating salaries, as compared to 17% of men.
The study of more than 160,000 respondents found that in general, no particularly group, racial, ethnic or gender, was more likely to ask for a raise, which, as study author Ruchika Tulshyan,notes “supports growing evidence that simply expecting people from underestimated backgrounds to ask for a raise will not close the wage gap.”
But on a brighter note, overall it seems as though most people will get a positive outcome when asking for a raise. The study finds that 70% of workers who asked for a raise got one, while 40% got the amount they requested.
As for the biggest reason workers are denied raises, about half say it’s “budgetary constraints,” although only 20% of workers don't believe that excuse.