Demand-Side Changes and the Relative Economic Progress of Black Men: 1940-90

Reardon, Elaine

doi:10.2307/146241

Cited by 12 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Welch (1990), on the other hand, argued that supply shifts were more important, at least during the 1970s, because wage changes were relatively favorable to blacks at all percentiles of the wage distribution. Juhn (1992) showed that since the early 1970s falling wages along a stable labor supply function account for most of the reduction in white men's employment 2The timing of this demand shift is broadly consistent with Reardon's (1997) recent finding that during the period 1940-90, the largest relative shifts in demand away from black men occurred before 1970. Margo and Finegan (1993), however, noted that the declining employment of black teenagers was partly the continuation of a long-run trend toward increased school attendance.…”

Section: Literature Reviewsupporting

confidence: 69%

The Emergence, Persistence, and Recent Widening of the Racial Unemployment Gap

Fairlie¹,

Sundstrom²

1999

ILR Review

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Census data show that the ratio of black to white unemployment rates, currently in excess of 2: 1, was small or nonexistent before 1940, widened dramatically during the 1940s and 1950s, and widened again in the 1980s. The authors decompose changes in the unemployment gap over the years to identify the separate contributions of changes in observable worker characteristics and shifts in labor demand. Nearly all of the widening of the gap during the 1940s and 1950s can be attributed to regional shifts of workers and declining demand in markets where black workers were concentrated. After 1970, improvements in the relative educational status of black workers would have narrowed the unemployment gap slightly, but demand shifts adverse to black workers more than canceled out these gains.

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Section: Literature Reviewsupporting

confidence: 69%

The Emergence, Persistence, and Recent Widening of the Racial Unemployment Gap

Fairlie¹,

Sundstrom²

1999

ILR Review

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“…While Card and Lemieux (1994) cast doubt on a general connection between changing returns to skills and white-black wage differentials, Juhn, Murphy and Pierce (1991) and Card and Lemieux (1995) find that changes in skill prices reduced the earnings of blacks relative to whites. Reardon (1997) shows that the general inequality story of skill biased technical change may be particularly important in explaining racial inequality growth among highly skilled blacks and whites. Similarly, Rogers (2006) shows that the stretching (increased variance of wages) of the skill distribution during the 1980s explains the growth in within group white-black wage gaps at the top of that distribution.…”

Section: Further Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance Pay and the White-Black Wage Gap

Heywood

Parent

2012

Journal of Labor Economics

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We show that the reported tendency for performance pay to be associated with greater wage inequality at the top of the earnings distribution applies only to white workers. This results in the white-black wage differential among those in performance pay jobs growing over the earnings distribution even as the same differential shrinks over the distribution for those not in performance pay jobs. We show this remains true even when examining suitable counterfactuals that hold observables constant between whites and blacks. We explore reasons behind our finding that performance pay is associated with greater racial earnings gaps at the top of the wage distribution focusing on the interactions between discrimination, unmeasured ability and selection. AbstractWe show that the reported tendency for performance pay to be associated with greater wage inequality at the top of the earnings distribution applies only to white workers. This results in the white-black wage differential among those in performance pay jobs growing over the earnings distribution even as the same differential shrinks over the distribution for those not in performance pay jobs. We show this remains true even when examining suitable counterfactuals that hold observables constant between whites and blacks. We explore reasons behind our finding that performance pay is associated with greater racial earnings gaps at the top of the wage distribution focusing on the interactions between discrimination, unmeasured ability and selection.

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“…First, a well-developed literature finds that blacks, especially those with the least education and potential experience bear the brunt of recessions. 29 Second, the evidence on industry-shifts and skillbiased technological change found in Bound and Freeman (1992), Bound and Holzer (1996), and Reardon (1997) all play a role. All of these more general factors placed African American men, even African American college graduates who entered the labor market in the early 1980s at an even greater initial disadvantage than white men.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In related work, Reardon (1997) uses a national sample of white and African American men from the 1980 and 1990 decennial censuses and shows that the mean racial wage gap's expansion is due to increased variance in the distribution of residual wages, generated by labor demand shifts toward high-skilled whites and away from middle-skilled white and high-skilled African American men. The wage gap expands because high-skilled African American men earn wages that are similar to whites in the middle and upper third of their wage distribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%