The U.S. Gender Pay Gap in the 1990S: Slowing Convergence

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit company supported by Deutsche Post World Net. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its research networks, research support, and visitors and doctoral programs. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. Using Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) data, we study the slowdown in the convergence of female and male wages in the 1990s compared to the 1980s. We find that changes in human capital did not contribute to the slowdown, since women's relative human capital improved comparably in the two decades. Occupational upgrading and deunionization had a larger positive effect on women's relative wages in the 1980s, explaining a portion of the slower 1990s convergence. However, the largest factor was that the "unexplained" gender wage gap fell much faster in the 1980s than the 1990s. Our evidence suggests that changes in labor force selectivity, changes in gender differences in unmeasured characteristics and in labor market discrimination, as well as changes in the favorableness of demand shifts each may have contributed to the slowing convergence of the unexplained gender pay gap.JEL Classification: J16, J31

Convergences in Men’s and Women’s Life Patterns: Lifetime Work, Lifetime Earnings, and Human Capital Investment

“…Polachek (2006) shows that the slowing convergence can be explained by changes in women's relative to men's labor force participation in the latter 1990s. For the period 1979 to O'Neill (2003 finds a narrowing of the returns to potential experience for men and women, which is consistent with the earlier studies (Blau and Kahn 2006;O'Neill and Polachek 1993).…”

“…They attribute much of this convergence in acquired characteristics such as education and work experience, while additional factors accounting for part of the narrowing include the returns to experience for women and declines in hourly earnings in blue-collar work, which is clearly a more male-dominated sector. 4 However, for the 1990s, Blau and Kahn (2006) find that a slowing convergence in the gender pay gap cannot be explained by changes in human capital as continued improvements for women occurred through the 1980s and 1990s. Underlying mechanisms that might explain the slowdown could be changes in the selection into the labor force and changes in unobservable gender characteristics (Blau and Kahn 2006).…”

“…4 However, for the 1990s, Blau and Kahn (2006) find that a slowing convergence in the gender pay gap cannot be explained by changes in human capital as continued improvements for women occurred through the 1980s and 1990s. Underlying mechanisms that might explain the slowdown could be changes in the selection into the labor force and changes in unobservable gender characteristics (Blau and Kahn 2006). Blau and Kahn (2005) found over the time period of the 1980s a rapid growth of female labor supply.…”

Beyond Discrete Categories: Studying Multiracial, Intersex, and Transgender Children Will Strengthen Basic Developmental Science

“…Gender and sex are primary lenses through which we view ourselves and others (e.g., Blau & Kahn, 2006;Lytton & Romney, 1991;Money & Ehrehardt, 1972;Raley & Bianchi, 2006). Common examples include asking about the sex of a baby immediately upon learning that a friend is pregnant and giving gifts that are gendered in various ways (e.g., even liberal academics are unlikely to give the parent of a baby boy a pink dress).…”

A Tale of Two Majors: Explaining the Gender Gap in STEM Employment among Computer Science and Engineering Degree Holders

“…As women have increased their participation in the workforce and obtained college and advanced degrees, some of these explanations have faded in importance; others, such as differences in the working patterns of men and women, continue to have an impact on earnings differentials (Blau and Kahn 2006;Mandel and Semyonov 2014) and occupational attainment (Weeden et al 2016).…”