This analysis of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicates that young Mexican women and young black women earned, respectively, 9.5% and 13.2% less than young white women in 1994. Differences in education appear to be the most important explanation for the Mexican-white wage gap, whereas differences in labor force attachment are the most important determinant of the black-white wage gap. The authors show that accounting for actual labor market experience, rather than simply imputing experience based on years since leaving school, is crucially important in such analyses.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ChapaJorge. 1990. “The Myth of Hispanic Progress: Trends in the Educational and Economic Attainment of Mexican Americans.”Journal of Hispanic Policy, Vol. 4, pp. 3–18.
2.
ChavezLinda. 1991. Out of the Barrio: Toward a New Politics of Hispanic Assimilation. New York: Basic Books.
3.
CurrieJanet, and ThomasDuncan. 1997. “Do the Benefits of Early Childhood Education Last?”Policy Options (July/August), pp. 47–50.
4.
JacobsenJoyce P., and LevinLaurence M.. 1995. “Effects of Intermittent Labor Force Attachment on Women's Earnings.”Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 118, No. 9 (September), pp. 14–19.
5.
KorenmanSanders, and NeumarkDavid. 1992. “Marriage, Motherhood, and Wages.”Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Spring), pp. 233–55.
6.
MoffittRobert. 1992. “Incentive Effects of the U.S. Welfare System: A Review.”Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 30, No. 1 (March), pp. 1–61.
7.
MoraMarie T., and DavilaAlberto. 1998. “Gender, Earnings, and the English Skill Acquisition of Hispanic Workers in the United States.”Economic Inquiry, Vol. 36, No. 4 (October), pp. 631–44.
8.
OaxacaRonald. 1973. “Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets.”International Economic Review, Vol. 14, No. 3 (October), pp. 693–709.
9.
PhippsShelleyBurtonPeter, and LethbridgeLynn. 1998. “In and out of the Labour Market: Long-Term Income Consequences of Interruptions in Paid Work.” Unpublished paper, Dalhousie University.
10.
PolachekSolomon, and KimMoon-Kak. 1994. “Panel Estimates of Male-Female Earnings Functions.”Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Spring), pp. 406–28.
11.
ReimersCordelia. 1994. “Caught in the Widening Skill Differential: Native-Born Mexican American Wages in California in the 1980s.” Unpublished manuscript, Hunter College.
12.
TrejoStephen J.1997. “Why Do Mexican Americans Earn Low Wages?”Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 105, No. 6 (December), pp. 1235–68.
13.
TrejoStephen J.. 1998. “Intergenerational Progress of Mexican-Origin Workers in the U.S. Labor Market.” Unpublished paper, University of Texas at Austin.
14.
WaldfogelJane. 1997. “Working Mothers Then and Now: A Cross-Cohort Analysis of the Effects of Maternity Leave on Women's Pay.” In BlauFrancine and EhrenbergRonald G., eds., Gender and Family Issues in the Workplace. New York: Russell Sage, pp. 92–126.
15.
WaldfogelJane. 1998. “The Family Gap for Young Women in the United States and Britain: Can Maternity Leave Make a Difference?”Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 16, No. 3 (July), pp. 505–45.
