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The Wage Gains of African-American Women in the 1940s

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  • Martha J. Bailey
  • William J. Collins

Abstract

The weekly wage gap between black and white female workers narrowed by 15 percentage points during the 1940s. We employ a semi-parametric technique to decompose changes in the distribution of wages. We find that changes in worker characteristics (such as education, occupation and industry, and region of residence) can account for a significant portion of wage convergence between black and white women, but that changes in the wage structure, including large black-specific gains within regions, occupations, industries, and educational groups, made the largest contributions. The single most important contributing factor to the observed convergence was a sharp increase in the relative wages of service workers (where black workers were heavily concentrated) even as black women moved out of domestic service jobs.

Suggested Citation

  • Martha J. Bailey & William J. Collins, 2004. "The Wage Gains of African-American Women in the 1940s," NBER Working Papers 10621, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10621
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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Clemens, 2010. "A Labor Mobility Agenda for Development," Working Papers 201, Center for Global Development.
    2. Olga Alonso-Villar & Coral del Río, 2024. "Gender, Race, and Class in an Intersectional Framework: Occupations and Wages in the United States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 40-69, January.
    3. Collins, William J., 2021. "The Great Migration of Black Americans from the US South: A guide and interpretation," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Martha J. Bailey & William J. Collins, 2011. "Did Improvements in Household Technology Cause the Baby Boom? Evidence from Electrification, Appliance Diffusion, and the Amish," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 189-217, April.
    5. Olga Alonso-Villar & Coral Río, 2023. "Disentangling Occupational Sorting from Within-Occupation Disparities: Earnings Differences Among 12 Gender–Race/Ethnicity Groups in the U.S," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(3), pages 1-28, June.
    6. Frydman, Carola & Molloy, Raven, 2012. "Pay Cuts for the Boss: Executive Compensation in the 1940s," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(1), pages 225-251, March.
    7. Olga Alonso-Villar & Coral del Río, 2024. "Gender, Race, and Class in an Intersectional Framework: Occupations and Wages in the United States," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 40-69, January.
    8. Saavedra, Martin & Twinam, Tate, 2020. "A machine learning approach to improving occupational income scores," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    9. Margo, Robert A., 2016. "Obama, Katrina, and the Persistence of Racial Inequality," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(2), pages 301-341, June.
    10. Duque, Valentina & Schmitz, Lauren L., 2020. "The Influence of Early-life Economic Shocks on Long-term Outcomes: Evidence from the U.S. Great Depression," Working Papers 2020-11, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    11. Olga Alonso-Villar & Coral del Río, 2021. "Privilege and Hindrance on the U.S. Earnings Distribution by Gender and Race/Ethnicity: The Role of Occupations in an Intersectional Framework with 12 Groups," Working Papers 2103, Universidade de Vigo, Departamento de Economía Aplicada.

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    JEL classification:

    • J7 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy

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