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Title: The Evolution of Gender Employment Differentials within Racial Groups in the United States
Citation Type: Conference Paper
Publication Year: 2010
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Abstract: This paper analyzes the causes and consequences of changes in the gender employmentdifferentials for non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks in the United States over theperiod from 1950 to 2008. We begin by documenting the evolution of the gender employmentrate gap. The gender employment differentials narrows considerably within both racial groupsand turns slightly negative for African-Americans. We document the changing employmentlevels by gender that drive these patterns as well as compositional shifts in each gender-racepopulation that drive changes in employment levels (e.g., changes in education, marriage,fertility and incarceration). Among whites, nearly all of the narrowing is attributable toincreasing employment among white women, which is in turn explained by declining marriageand fertility, increasing education, and increasing employment within groups defined by thesecharacteristics. While we observe similar changes for African-American women, a largecomponent of the narrowing of the black gender differential is explained by decliningemployment among black men. Black employment rates decline precipitously for the leasteducated and post-1980 are driven down further by increased institutionalization and decliningmarriage. Finally, we explore whether the correlates of employment among women arethemselves responsive to changes in the employment prospects of men. In an analysis of statelevelinter-decade changes in female outcomes, we find that a worsening of black maleemployment prospects is associated with an increase in the proportion of women with educationbeyond high school, a decline in marriage, and a decline in fertility among African-Americanwomen. For white women, we observe similar results for marriage and fertility. We also findthat the employment differential between white women with very young children and whitewomen without children declines with declining white male employment.
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Authors: Meyer, Chris; Hamilton, Candace
Conference Name: Law and Economics Conference: The Law and Economics of Race
Publisher Location: University of Chicago Law School, Cbicago, IL
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Gender, Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Race and Ethnicity
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