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The Improving Relative Status of Black Men

Author

Listed:
  • Kenneth A. Couch
  • Mary Daly
Abstract
Using data from the Current Population Survey, we examine recent trends in the relative economic status of black men. Our findings point to gains in the relative wages of black men (compared to whites) during the 1990s, especially among younger workers. In 1989, the average black male worker (experienced or not) earned about 69% as much per week as the average white male worker. In 2001, the average younger black worker was earning about 86% as much as an equally experienced white male; black males at all experience levels earned 72% as much as the average white in 2001. Greater occupational diversity and a reduction in unobserved skill differences and/or labor market discrimination explain much of the trend. For both younger and older workers, general wage inequality tempered the rate of wage convergence between blacks and whites during the 1990s, although the effects were less pronounced than during the 1980s.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenneth A. Couch & Mary Daly, 2003. "The Improving Relative Status of Black Men," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 12(3-4), pages 4-4, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:jid:journl:y:2003:v:12:i:3-4:p:4-4
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    File URL: http://jid.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/jid/article/view/1269
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Richard V. Burkhauser & Kenneth A. Couch & Andrew Houtenville & Ludmila Rovba, 2003. "Income Inequality in the 1990s: Re-forging a Lost Relationship," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 12(3-4), pages 2-2, September.
    2. Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2008. "Happiness Inequality in the United States," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(S2), pages 33-79, June.
    3. Kenneth Couch & Robert Fairlie, 2010. "Last hired, first fired? black-white unemployment and the business cycle," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(1), pages 227-247, February.
    4. Gil S. Epstein & Dalit Gafni & Erez Siniver, 2014. "Even Education and Experience Has Its Limits: Closing the Wage Gap," Working Papers 2014-14, Bar-Ilan University, Department of Economics.
    5. Elizabeth Becker & Cotton M. Lindsay, 2005. "The limits of the wage impact of discrimination," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(8), pages 513-525.
    6. Richard V. Burkhauser & Takashi Oshio & Ludmila Rovba, 2008. "How the Distribution of After-Tax Income Changed Over the 1990s Business Cycle: A Comparison of the United States, Great Britain, Germany and Japan," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 17(1), pages 87-109, March.
    7. Bitzan, John D., 2009. "Do sheepskin effects help explain racial earnings differences?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 759-766, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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