A sizable literature examines whether and why marriage affects men’s and women’s wages. This study advances current research in two ways. First, whereas most prior studies treat the effect of marriage as time-invariant, I examine how the wage effect of marriage unfolds over the life course. Second, whereas prior work often focuses on the population-average effect of marriage or is limited to some particular gender or racial group, I examine the intersection of gender and race in the effect of marriage. Analyzing data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, I find that the marriage wage premium grows steadily and at a similar pace among white and black men. The marriage wage premium declines toward negative among white women, yet it grows steadily among black women. Furthermore, measured work experience explains a substantial amount of the wage premium among black men, yet it has little explanatory power among white men, pointing to the importance of unobserved factors in white men’s marriage premium. Changes in work experience negatively affect married white women’s wages, yet they positively affect married black women’s wages, pointing to the important differences between black and white families.
AhituvAvnerLermanRobert I.2007. “How Do Marital Status, Work Effort, and Wage Rates Interact?”Demography44(3):623–47.
2.
AkerlofGeorge A.1998. “Men without Children.”The Economic Journal108(447):287–309.
3.
AndersonDeborah J.BinderMelissaKrauseKate. 2003. “The Motherhood Wage Penalty Revisited: Experience, Heterogeneity, Work Effort, and Work-Schedule Flexibility.”Industrial & Labor Relations Review56(2):273–94.
4.
AshwinSarahIsupovaOlga. 2014. “‘Behind Every Great Man…’: The Male Marriage Wage Premium Examined Qualitatively.”Journal of Marriage and Family76(1):37–55.
5.
BartlettRobin L.CallahanCharles. 1984. “Wage Determination and Marital Status: Another Look.”Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society23(1):90–96.
6.
BeckerGary S.1985. “Human Capital, Effort, and the Sexual Division of Labor.”Journal of Labor Economics3(1):S33–S58.
7.
BeckerGary S.1991. A Treatise on the Family. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
8.
BenardStephenCorrellShelley J.2010. “Normative Discrimination and the Motherhood Penalty.”Gender & Society24(5):616–46.
9.
BennettNeil G.BloomDavid E.CraigPatricia H.1989. “The Divergence of Black and White Marriage Patterns.”American Journal of Sociology95(3):692–722.
10.
BianchiSuzanne M.MilkieMelissa A.SayerLiana C.RobinsonJohn P.2000. “Is Anyone Doing the Housework? Trends in the Gender Division of Household Labor.”Social Forces79(1):191–228.
11.
BielbyWilliam T.BielbyDenise D.1992. “Cumulative Versus Continuous Disadvantage in an Unstructured Labor Market: Gender Differences in the Careers of Television Writers.”Work and Occupations19(4):366–86.
12.
BlackburnMcKinleyKorenmanSanders. 1994. “The Declining Marital-Status Earnings Differential.”Journal of Population Economics7(3):247–70.
13.
BlauFrancine D.FerberMarianne A.WinklerAnne E.1986. The Economics of Women, Men, and Work. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
14.
BrowneIreneMisraJoya. 2003. “The Intersection of Gender and Race in the Labor Market.”Annual Review of Sociology29:487–513.
15.
BudigMichelle J.2002. “Male Advantage and the Gender Composition of Jobs: Who Rides the Glass Escalator.”Social Problems49(2):258–77.
16.
BudigMichelle J.2003. “Are Women’s Employment and Fertility Histories Interdependent? An Examination of Causal Order Using Event History Analysis.”Social Science Research32(3):376–401.
17.
BudigMichelle J.EnglandPaula. 2001. “The Wage Penalty for Motherhood.”American Sociological Review66(2):204–25.
18.
BudigMichelle J.HodgesMelissa J.2010. “Differences in Disadvantage: Variation in the Motherhood Penalty across White Women’s Earnings Distribution.”American Sociological Review75(5):705–28.
19.
BulcroftRichard A.BulcroftKris A.1993. “Race Differences in Attitudinal and Motivational Factors in the Decision to Marry.”Journal of Marriage and the Family55(2):338–55.
20.
ChengSiwei. 2014. “A Life Course Trajectory Framework for Understanding the Intracohort Pattern of Wage Inequality.”American Journal of Sociology120(3):633–700.
21.
ChunHyunbaeLeeInjae. 2001. “Why Do Married Men Earn More: Productivity or Marriage Selection?”Economic Inquiry39(2):307–319.
22.
CohenPhilip N.2002. “Cohabitation and the Declining Marriage Premium for Men.”Work and Occupations29(3):346–63.
23.
CongerRand D.ElderGlen H.JrLorenzFrederick O.CongerKatherine J.SimonsRonald L.WhitbeckLes B.HuckShirleyMelbyJanet N.1990. “Linking Economic Hardship to Marital Quality and Instability.”Journal of Marriage and the Family52(3):643–56.
24.
CorcoranMary E.1999. “The Economic Progress of African American Women.” Pp. 35–60 in African American and Latina Women in the Labor Market: Race, Gender, and Economic Inequality, edited by BrownI.New York: Russell Sage.
25.
CorrellShelley J.BenardStephenPaikIn. 2007. “Getting a Job: Is There a Motherhood Penalty?”American Journal of Sociology112(5):1297–1339.
26.
DanielKermit. 1995. “The Marriage Premium.” Pp. 113–25 in The New Economics of Human Behavior, edited by TommasiM.IerulliK.New York: Cambridge University Press.
27.
DavisShannon N.GreensteinTheodore N.2004. “Cross-National Variations in the Division of Household Labor.”Journal of Marriage and Family66(5):1260–71.
28.
DoughertyChristopher. 2006. “The Marriage Earnings Premium as a Distributed Fixed Effect.”Journal of Human Resources41(2):433–43.
29.
EdinKathrynKefalasMaria. 2011. Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood before Marriage. Berkeley: University of California Press.
30.
ElderGlen H.1985. Life Course Dynamics: Trajectories and Transitions, 1968–1980. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
31.
ElderGlen H.JohnsonMonica K.CrosnoeRobert. 2003. “The Emergence and Development of Life Course Theory.” Pp. 3–22 in Handbook of the Life Course, edited by MortimerJ. T.ShanahanM. J.New York: Kluwer.
32.
EnglandPaula. 2005. “Gender Inequality in Labor Markets: The Role of Motherhood and Segregation.”Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society12(2):264–88.
33.
FarleyReynolds. 1988. “After the Starting Line: Blacks and Women in an Uphill Race.”Demography25(4):477–95.
34.
FarleyReynoldsBianchiSuzanne M.1987. “The Growing Racial Difference in Marriage and Family Patterns.” University of Michigan, Population Studies Center, Research Report No. 87–107.
35.
Fernandez-MateoIsabel. 2009. “Cumulative Gender Disadvantage in Contract Employment.”American Journal of Sociology114(4):871–923.
36.
FullerSylvia. 2008. “Job Mobility and Wage Trajectories for Men and Women in the United States.”American Sociological Review73(1):158–83.
37.
GershunyJonathanSullivanOriel. 2003. “Time Use, Gender, and Public Policy Regimes.”Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society10(2):205–228.
38.
Gibson-DavisChristina M.EdinKathrynMcLanahanSara. 2005. “High Hopes but Even Higher Expectations: The Retreat from Marriage among Low-Income Couples.”Journal of Marriage and Family67(5):1301–12.
39.
GintherDonna K.ZavodnyMadeline. 2001. “Is the Male Marriage Premium Due to Selection? The Effect of Shotgun Weddings on the Return to Marriage.”Journal of Population Economics14(2):313–28.
40.
GlauberRebecca. 2007. “Marriage and the Motherhood Wage Penalty among African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites.”Journal of Marriage and Family69(4):951–61.
41.
GlauberRebecca. 2008. “Race and Gender in Families and at Work: The Fatherhood Wage Premium.”Gender & Society22(1):8–30.
42.
GlauberRebeccaGozjolkoKristi L.2011. “Do Traditional Fathers Always Work More? Gender Ideology, Race, and Parenthood.”Journal of Marriage and Family73(5):1133–48.
43.
GoldinClaudia. 1983. “The Changing Economic Role of Women: A Quantitative Approach.”Journal of Interdisciplinary History13(4):707–733.
44.
GoldinClaudiaKatzLawrence F.2000. “Career and Marriage in the Age of the Pill.”American Economic Review90(2):461–65.
45.
GoldscheiderFrances KobrinWaiteLinda J.1986. “Sex Differences in the Entry into Marriage.”American Journal of Sociology92(1):91–109.
46.
GormanElizabeth H.2000. “Marriage and Money: The Effect of Marital Status on Attitudes Toward Pay and Finances.”Work and Occupations27(1):64–88.
47.
GoughMargaretNoonanMary. 2013. “A Review of the Motherhood Wage Penalty in the United States.”Sociology Compass7(4):328–42.
48.
GrayJeffrey S.1997. “The Fall in Men’s Return to Marriage: Declining Productivity Effects or Changing Selection?”Journal of Human Resources32(3):481–504.
49.
GreenhalghChristine. 1980. “Male-Female Wage Differentials in Great Britain: Is Marriage an Equal Opportunity?”The Economic Journal90(360):751–75.
50.
GreenmanEmilyXieYu. 2008. “Double Jeopardy? The Interaction of Gender and Race on Earnings in the United States.”Social Forces86(3):1217–44.
51.
GrodskyEricPagerDevah. 2001. “The Structure of Disadvantage: Individual and Occupational Determinants of the Black-White Wage Gap.”American Sociological Review66(4):542–67.
52.
GuptaSanjiv. 1999. “The Effects of Transitions in Marital Status on Men’s Performance of Housework.”Journal of Marriage and the Family61(3):700–711.
53.
GuptaSanjiv. 2006. “Her Money, Her Time: Women’s Earnings and Their Housework Hours.”Social Science Research35(4):975–99.
54.
GuptaSanjiv. 2007. “Autonomy, Dependence, or Display? The Relationship between Married Women’s Earnings and Housework.”Journal of Marriage and Family69(2):399–417.
55.
HallidayHardieJessicaLucasAmy. 2010. “Economic Factors and Relationship Quality among Young Couples: Comparing Cohabitation and Marriage.”Journal of Marriage and Family72(5):1141–54.
56.
HarrisDavid R.OnoHiromi. 2005. “How Many Interracial Marriages Would There Be If All Groups Were of Equal Size in All Places? A New Look at National Estimates of Interracial Marriage.”Social Science Research34(1):236–51.
57.
HausmanJerry A.TaylorWilliam E.1981. “Panel Data and Unobservable Individual Effects.”Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society49(6):1377–98.
58.
HerschJoniStrattonLeslie S.2000. “Household Specialization and the Male Marriage Wage Premium.”Industrial and Labor Relations Review54(1):78-94.
59.
HillMartha S.1979. “The Wage Effects of Marital Status and Children.”Journal of Human Resources14(4):579–94.
60.
HochschildArlieMachungAnne. 1989. “The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home.”New York: Viking.
61.
HodgesMelissa J.BudigMichelle J.2010. “Who Gets the Daddy Bonus? Organizational Hegemonic Masculinity and the Impact of Fatherhood on Earnings.”Gender & Society24(6):717–45.
62.
HurtTera R.2013. “Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Meaning of Marriage among Black Men.”Journal of Family Issues34(7):859–84.
63.
JacobsenJoyce P.RayackWendy L.1996. “Do Men Whose Wives Work Really Earn Less?”American Economic Review86(2):268–73.
64.
JohnDaphneSheltonBeth Anne. 1997. “The Production of Gender among Black and White Women and Men: The Case of Household Labor.”Sex Roles36(3–4):171–93.
65.
KalistDavid E.2008. “Does Motherhood Affect Productivity, Relative Performance, and Earnings?”Journal of Labor Research29(3):219–35.
66.
KalmijnMatthijsPoortmanAnne-Rigt. 2006. “His or Her Divorce? The Gendered Nature of Divorce and Its Determinants.”European Sociological Review22(2):201–214.
67.
KamoYoshinoriCohenEllen L.1998. “Division of Household Work between Partners: A Comparison of Black and White Couples.”Journal of Comparative Family Studies29(1):131–45.
68.
KennyLawrence W.1983. “The Accumulation of Human Capital during Marriage by Males.”Economic Inquiry21(2):223–32.
69.
KiernanKathleen. 2001. “The Rise of Cohabitation and Childbearing Outside Marriage in Western Europe.”International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family15(1):1–21.
70.
KilbourneBarbaraEnglandPaulaBeronKurt. 1994. “Effects of Individual, Occupational, and Industrial Characteristics on Earnings: Intersections of Race and Gender.”Social Forces72(4):1149–76.
71.
KillewaldAlexandra. 2013. “A Reconsideration of the Fatherhood Premium: Marriage, Coresidence, Biology, and Fathers’ Wages.”American Sociological Review78(1):96–116.
72.
KillewaldAlexandraGoughMargaret. 2013. “Does Specialization Explain Marriage Penalties and Premiums?”American Sociological Review78(3):477–502.
73.
KmecJulie A.2011. “Are Motherhood Penalties and Fatherhood Bonuses Warranted? Comparing Pro-Work Behaviors and Conditions of Mothers, Fathers, and Non-parents.”Social Science Research40(2):444–59.
74.
KorenmanSandersNeumarkDavid. 1991. “Does Marriage Really Make Men More Productive?”Journal of Human Resources26(2):282–307.
75.
KrashinskyHarry A.2004. “Do Marital Status and Computer Usage Really Change the Wage Structure?”Journal of Human Resources39(3):774–91.
76.
LehrerEvelyn L.1992. “The Impact of Children on Married Women’s Labor Supply: Black-White Differentials Revisited.”Journal of Human Resources27(3):422–44.
77.
LichterDaniel T.CostanzoJanice A.1987. “How Do Demographic Changes Affect Labor Force Participation of Women?”Monthly Labor Review110(11):23–28.
78.
LichterDaniel T.LeClereFelicia B.McLaughlinDiane K.1991. “Local Marriage Markets and the Marital Behavior of Black and White Women.”American Journal of Sociology96(4):843–67.
79.
LichterDaniel T.McLaughlinDiane K.KephartGeorgeLandryDavid J.1992. “Race and the Retreat from Marriage: A Shortage of Marriageable Men?”American Sociological Review57(6):781–99.
80.
LohEng Seng. 1996. “Productivity Differences and the Marriage Wage Premium for White Males.”Journal of Human Resources31(3):566–89.
81.
LopooLeonard M.WesternBruce. 2005. “Incarceration and the Formation and Stability of Marital Unions.”Journal of Marriage and Family67(3):721–34.
82.
LoughranDavid S.ZissimopoulosJulie M.2009. “Why Wait? The Effect of Marriage and Childbearing on the Wages of Men and Women.”Journal of Human Resources44(2):326–49.
83.
MalkielBurton G.MalkielJudith A.1973. “Male-Female Pay Differentials in Professional Employment.”American Economic Review63(4):693–705.
84.
ManningWendy D.SmockPamela J.2005. “Measuring and Modeling Cohabitation: New Perspectives from Qualitative Data.”Journal of Marriage and Family67(4):989–1002.
85.
MareRobert D.WinshipChristopher. 1991. “Socioeconomic Change and the Decline of Marriage for Blacks and Whites.” Pp. 175–202 in The Urban Underclass, edited by JencksC.PetersonP. E.Washington, DC: Urban.
86.
MaretElizabethFinlayBarbara. 1984. “The Distribution of Household Labor among Women in Dual-Earner Families.”Journal of Marriage and the Family46(2):357–64.
87.
MarksLoren D.HopkinsKatrinaChaneyCassandraMonroePamela A.NesterukOlenaSasserDiane D.2008. “‘Together, We Are Strong’: A Qualitative Study of Happy, Enduring African American Marriages.”Family Relations57(2):172–85.
88.
MayMartha. 1982. “The Historical Problem of the Family Wage: The Ford Motor Company and the Five Dollar Day.”Feminist Studies8(2):399–424.
89.
MayerKarl Ulrich. 2009. “New Directions in Life Course Research.”Annual Review of Sociology35:413–33.
90.
McCallLeslie. 2005. “The Complexity of Intersectionality.”Signs30(3):1771–1800.
91.
MincerJacobOfekHaim. 1982. “Interrupted Work Careers: Depreciation and Restoration of Human Capital.”Journal of Human Resources17(1):3–24.
92.
MooreKristin A.WaiteLinda J.1981. “Marital Dissolution, Early Motherhood and Early Marriage.”Social Forces60(1):20–40.
93.
NoonanMary C.CorcoranMary E.CourantPaul N.2005. “Pay Differences among the Highly Trained: Cohort Differences in the Sex Gap in Lawyers’ Earnings.”Social Forces84(2):853–72.
94.
OppenheimerValerie Kincade. 1988. “A Theory of Marriage Timing.”American Journal of Sociology94(3):563–91.
95.
OppenheimerValerie Kincade. 2003. “Cohabiting and Marriage during Young Men’s Career-Development Process.”Demography40(1):127–49.
96.
OppenheimerValerie KincadeKalmijnMatthijsLimNelson. 1997. “Men’s Career Development and Marriage Timing during a Period of Rising Inequality.”Demography34(3):311–30.
97.
PolachekSolomon William. 1981. “Occupational Self-Selection: A Human Capital Approach to Sex Differences in Occupational Structure.”Review of Economics and Statistics63(1):60–69.
98.
Pollmann-SchultMatthias. 2011. “Marriage and Earnings: Why Do Married Men Earn More Than Single Men?”European Sociological Review27(2):147–63.
99.
RidgewayCecilia L.CorrellShelley J.2004. “Motherhood as a Status Characteristic.”Journal of Social Issues60(4):683–700.
100.
RodgersWilliam M.StrattonLeslie S.2010. “Male Marital Wage Differentials: Training, Personal Characteristics, and Fixed Effects.”Economic Inquiry48(3):722–42.
101.
RogersStacy J.2004. “Dollars, Dependency, and Divorce: Four Perspectives on the Role of Wives’ Income.”Journal of Marriage and Family66(1):59–74.
102.
SeltzerJudith A.2000. “Families Formed outside of Marriage.”Journal of Marriage and Family62(4):1247–68.
103.
ShanahanMichael J.2008. “Glen H. Elder, Jr., and the Importance of Lived Experience.”Research in Human Development5(4):195–98.
104.
SheltonBeth AnneJohnDaphne. 1996. “The Division of Household Labor.”Annual Review of Sociology22:299–322.
105.
SouthScott J.SpitzeGlenna. 1994. “Housework in Marital and Nonmarital Households.”American Sociological Review59(3):327–47.
106.
SweeneyMegan M.2002. “Two Decades of Family Change: The Shifting Economic Foundations of Marriage.”American Sociological Review67(1):132–47.
107.
ThébaudSarah. 2010. “Masculinity, Bargaining, and Breadwinning: Understanding Men’s Housework in the Cultural Context of Paid Work.”Gender & Society24(3):330–54.
108.
ThorntonArlandAxinnWilliam G.XieYu. 2008. Marriage and Cohabitation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
109.
Tomaskovic-DeveyDonaldSkaggsSheryl. 2002. “Sex Segregation, Labor Process Organization, and Gender Earnings Inequality.”American Journal of Sociology108(1):102–28.
110.
Tomaskovic-DeveyDonaldThomasMelvinJohnsonKecia. 2005. “Race and the Accumulation of Human Capital across the Career: A Theoretical Model and Fixed-Effects Application.”American Journal of Sociology111(1):58–89.
111.
TownsendNicholas W.2002. Package Deal: Marriage, Work and Fatherhood in Men’s Lives. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
112.
VaupelJames W.YashinAnatoli I.1985. “Heterogeneity’s Ruses: Some Surprising Effects of Selection on Population Dynamics.”American Statistician39(3):176–85.
113.
WaiteLinda J.1995. “Does Marriage Matter?”Demography32(4):483–507.
114.
WaiteLinda J.GallagherMaggie. 2002. The Case for Marriage: Why Married People Are Happier, Healthier and Better off Financially. New York: Random House.
115.
WaldfogelJane. 1997. “The Effect of Children on Women’s Wages.”American Sociological Review62(2):209–217.
116.
WarrenJohn RobertSheridanJennifer T.HauserRobert M.2002. “Occupational Stratification across the Life Course: Evidence from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study.”American Sociological Review67(3):432–55.
WesternBruceWildemanChristopher. 2009. “The Black Family and Mass Incarceration.”ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science621(1):221–42.
119.
WhiteLynn K.1990. “Determinants of Divorce: A Review of Research in the Eighties.”Journal of Marriage and the Family52(4):904–912.
120.
WilsonWilliam Julius. 1987. The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
121.
WilsonWilliam Julius. 1996. When Work Disappears: The World of the Urban Poor. New York: Alfred Knopf.
122.
XieYu. 2013. “Population Heterogeneity and Causal Inference.”Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences110(16):6262–68.
123.
XieYuRaymoJames M.GoyetteKimberlThorntonArland. 2003. “Economic Potential and Entry into Marriage and Cohabitation.”Demography40(2):351–67.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
