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A new University of North Carolina study shows that white males receive more tips about job opportunities than minorities and women, particularly in upper management positions.

“Our research shows that 95 times out of 100, white men receive more job leads than white women or Hispanic men or women,” says Dr. Steve McDonald, an assistant professor of sociology at NC State who was the lead author of the study.

The findings of the study show that the disparity between white men, minorities and women is greatest among workers in high-level management. McDonald points out that “these gender and race differences in access to job opportunities help to explain why white men continue to fill a disproportionately large number of jobs in upper management.”

They believe that the cause of this underlying discrimination (whether conscious or unconscious) is so-called “social capital.” In the study’s context, social capital is “the extent and quality of connections to people in various fields of employment.”

Researchers tabulated how many job leads a person receives during routine conversations, without having asked for the information. The study surveyed 3,000 representative U.S. residents.

Click here to read more about the study “Networks of Opportunity: Gender, Race and Job Leads.”