. The second caution is that the data do not prove, and no one would claim, that the amount of racism in society is zero. Racism undoubtedly still exists, but — fortunately — it is widely condemned and discouraged.
To the extent that unfair discrimination in labour markets is an ongoing concern, the solution has been well-known for decades thanks to economic Nobelist Gary Becker’s pioneering research. As Becker showed, and as economists today agree, unfairly discriminating against people is costly to the discriminator.
In the long run, the inefficiencies created by discrimination would likely drive the discriminating firm out of business — that is, unless the firm had monopoly power and could afford to be inefficient. Monopoly firms, unlike those in competitive industries, have a steady source of excess profits from which to fund the losses imposed by discrimination.
The antidote to whatever racism that remains in labour markets is therefore large-scale privatization, including in education and health care, and aggressive deregulation to smash monopoly institutions, including unions. Meanwhile, the government interventions said by progressives to curtail unfair discrimination are more likely to promote it, because such interventions are inherently anti-competitive.