IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ilrrev/v41y1988i4p513-529.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trends in Earnings Differentials by Gender, 1971–1981

Author

Listed:
  • Francine D. Blau
  • Andrea H. Beller

Abstract

Using data from the Current Population Surveys, the authors examine earnings differentials by gender for 1971 and 1981. Most observers, focusing on the median annual earnings of year-round, full-time workers, have concluded that the earnings differential did not change over that decade. Using a different method to adjust for gender differences in hours and weeks worked, the authors find, on the contrary, that the female-male earnings ratio significantly increased during the 1970s. The results suggest that declining gender role specialization and declining discrimination (as conventionally measured) contributed to the observed trend. Two factors that worked in the opposite direction, though to smaller effect, were declines in women's relative returns to education and to employment in male jobs and integrated jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • Francine D. Blau & Andrea H. Beller, 1988. "Trends in Earnings Differentials by Gender, 1971–1981," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 41(4), pages 513-529, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:41:y:1988:i:4:p:513-529
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ilr.sagepub.com/content/41/4/513.abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:aea:jeclit:v:55:y:2017:i:3:p:789-865 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn, 2017. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(3), pages 789-865, September.
    3. Ahmed, Salma & McGillivray, Mark, 2015. "Human Capital, Discrimination, and the Gender Wage Gap in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 506-524.
    4. repec:eee:wdevel:v:97:y:2017:i:c:p:313-329 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. M. C. Berger & P. Groothuis & P. Jeon, 1997. "The changing gender wage gap in Korea," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(9), pages 579-582.
    6. Tymon Sloczynski, 2018. "Average Gaps and Oaxaca–Blinder Decompositions: A Cautionary Tale about Regression Estimates of Racial Differences in Labor Market Outcomes," Working Papers 127, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Businesss School.
    7. Garey Durden & Patricia Gaynor, 2000. "Relative changes in gender and race-based earnings costs, 1970-1995," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(6), pages 401-404.
    8. Benjamin Artz & Amanda H. Goodall & Andrew J. Oswald, 2018. "Do Women Ask?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(4), pages 611-636, October.
    9. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence Kahn, 2016. "The Gender Wage Gap: Extent, Trends, and Explanations," CESifo Working Paper Series 5722, CESifo Group Munich.
    10. MS Mohanty, 2001. "Determination Of Participation Decision, Hiring Decision, And Wages In A Double Selection Framework: Male‐Female Wage Differentials In The U.S. Labor Market Revisited," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 19(2), pages 197-212, April.
    11. Macpherson, David A & Hirsch, Barry T, 1995. "Wages and Gender Composition: Why Do Women's Jobs Pay Less?," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(3), pages 426-471, July.
    12. Sylvie DÉMURGER & Martin FOURNIER & Yi CHEN, 2007. "The Evolution Of Gender Earnings Gaps And Discrimination In Urban China, 1988–95," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 45(1), pages 97-121, March.
    13. Light, Audrey & Ureta, Manuelita, 1995. "Early-Career Work Experience and Gender Wage Differentials," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(1), pages 121-154, January.
    14. Xin Meng, 1998. "Gender occupational segregation and its impact on the gender wage differential among rural-urban migrants: a Chinese case study," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(6), pages 741-752.
    15. Madhu Mohanty, 1998. "Do US employers discriminate against females when hiring their employees?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(11), pages 1471-1482.
    16. repec:bla:gender:v:24:y:2017:i:5:p:472-486 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Blau, Francine D & Kahn, Lawrence M, 1997. "Swimming Upstream: Trends in the Gender Wage Differential in 1980s," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 1-42, January.
    18. LEE, Jong-Wha & Wie, Dainn, 2017. "Wage Structure and Gender Earnings Differentials in China and India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 313-329.
    19. repec:eee:econom:v:199:y:2017:i:2:p:117-130 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Patricia E. Gaynor & Garey C. Durden, 1997. "The Cost of Being Nonwhite and the Added Cost of Being Female in The South and Southwest," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 27(2), pages 195-209, Fall.
    21. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3143-3259 is not listed on IDEAS

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:41:y:1988:i:4:p:513-529. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (SAGE Publications). General contact details of provider: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.