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Title: Did Racist Labor Policies Reverse Equality Gains for Everyone?

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2022

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Abstract: Labor protection policies in the 1950s and 1960s helped many low-and middle-wage white workers in the United States achieve the American Dream. This coincided with historically low levels of inequality across income deciles. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964, many of the policies that had previously helped build the white middle class reversed, especially in states with a larger Black population. Calibrating a labor search model to match unemployment benefits, bargaining power, and minimum wages before and after the Civil Rights Act, I find declining labor protections explain 60 percent of the rise in 90/10 income inequality since the 1960s.

Url: https://erinwolcott-econ.github.io/Wolcott_RacistLaborPolicies.pdf

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Authors: Wolcott, Erin L.

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Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS CPS

Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Land Use/Urban Organization, Poverty and Welfare, Race and Ethnicity

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