This study investigates the hypothesis that the increase in the median earnings of black men relative to those of white men after 1964 in the United States largely reflects the labor force withdrawal of high proportions of low-wage black men who availed themselves of government transfers. Analyzing Current Population Survey and Social Security Administration data through 1985, the author finds little empirical support for three direct implications of the “sample censoring” hypothesis. Of the total measured gain in relative earnings between 1964 and 1985 (from .531 to .663, or 13.2 percentage points), he finds that only 14% (or 1.8 percentage points) can be attributed to sample selection.
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