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Title: Why Do Black Women Work More? A Comparison of White and Black Married Womens Labor Supply

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2007

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Abstract: Married African-American women have had significantly higher labor force participation rates since at least the 1960s relative to their white counterparts even after controlling for their husbands income. Conditional on working, their average hours worked have also been significantly higher since the 1970s. Of course, controlling for the husbands income level is insufficient. Divorce rates have been at least 40% higher for black women relative to white women and marriage rates 50% lower since the 1960s. Moreover greater volatility in the employment and income of African-American men relative to white men and lower first-marriage rates may also make a difference. To fully consider how these factors affect labor supply choices, I develop a dynamic discrete choice model with returns to experience. Preliminary estimates using simulated maximum likelihood and the National Longitudinal Survey Mature Womens sample suggest that these differenceshigher divorce rates, lower rates of marriage and remarriage and greater income volatilitycan explain only part of the observed labor supply differences.

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Authors: Potamites, Elizabeth

Publisher: New York University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other

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