The Origins and Persistence of Black-White Differences in Women's Labor Force Participation

Leah Boustan and William Collins

No 19040, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Black women were more likely than white women to participate in the labor force from 1870 until at least 1980 and to hold jobs in agriculture or manufacturing. Differences in observables cannot account for most of this racial gap in labor force participation for the 100 years after Emancipation. The unexplained racial gap may be due to racial differences in stigma associated with women's work, which Goldin (1977) suggested could be traced to cultural norms rooted in slavery. In both nineteenth and twentieth century data, we find evidence of inter-generation transmission of labor force participation from mother to daughter, which is consistent with the role of cultural norms.

JEL-codes: J22 N11 N12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-his, nep-lab and nep-lma
Note: DAE LS
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published as The Origin and Persistence of Black-White Differences in Women's Labor Force Participation , Leah Platt Boustan, William J. Collins. in Human Capital in History: The American Record , Boustan, Frydman, and Margo. 2014

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Chapter: The Origin and Persistence of Black-White Differences in Women's Labor Force Participation (2014)
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