Race and Gender Pay Differentials
In this paper we review research findings from the 1980s and early 1990s on race and gender pay gaps. In addition. we present some evidence from the Current Population Surveys (1972, 1982 and 1989) regarding the impact of shifts in the industrial composition of employment and in interindustry wage differentials on these gaps. The gender gap in pay was stable in the 1970s but fell steadily in the 1980s; the opposite patterns were observed for black-white wage differentials--a trend towards convergence in the 1970s and stability in the 1980s. Understanding these new trends comprised the unifying theme of our review. Existing studies suggest that changes in wage structure. changing relative skill levels by race and sex. and. possibly. changes in the implementation of government policies all played a role in producing the observed outcomes. although impacts were sometimes countervailing. Our own results indicate that total industry effects (representation plus coefficient effects) had little impact on the male-female pay gap during the 1970s. but accounted for a small portion of the closing of the male-female pay gap for both blacks and for whites in the 1980s. In contrast, we found no evidence that total industry effects contributed to black-white wage trends in either period.
|Date of creation:||Jul 1992|
|Publication status:||published as "Race and Gender Pay Differentials" in Research Frontiers in Industrial Relations, edited by David Lewin, Olivia Mitchell and Peter Sherer, Madison, W I: Industrial Relations Research Association, 1992|
|Contact details of provider:|| Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.|
Web page: http://www.nber.org
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- Yoram Weiss & Reuben Gronau, 1981.
"Expected Interruptions in Labour Force Participation and Sex-Related Differences in Earnings Growth,"
Review of Economic Studies,
Oxford University Press, vol. 48(4), pages 607-619.
- Yoram Weiss, 1981. "Expected Interruptions in Labor Force Participation and Sex Related Differences in Earnings Growth," NBER Working Papers 0667, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.