Antidiscrimination Measures of the 1960s and Occupational Mobility: Evidence for Black American Men

Based on an economy-wide index, I estimate that the occupational status of U.S. black men, relative to white men, rose an average of .5 percent per year over the 1965-1981 period. After accounting for pre-existing trends, education, and censoring supply factors, approximately 40 percent of the increase remains. I argue that these residual post-1964 effects may be attributed to the antidiscrimination measures of the times, particularly Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although there seems to be some cyclical censoring, I uncover no evidence in support of the secular censoring hypothesis that observed post-1964 black male occupational progress results largely from black male labor supply declines. I assign about one-half of the 21 percent relative earnings gains by black men during 1965-1981 to occupational mobility. Compared with previous findings for black women, however, the results suggest substantially lower gains for black men. In addition, occupational advancement appears to explain a much smaller proportion of the earnings increases for black men than for black women.