Why the Gender Gap in Wages Narrowed in the 1980s

June O'Neill and Solomon Polachek

Journal of Labor Economics, 1993, vol. 11, issue 1, 205-28

Abstract: Since 1976, the gender gap in wages on average declined about one percent per year. This article focuses on identifying the factors underlying this trend. Three data sets are analyzed--the Current Population Survey, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and the National Longitudinal Survey. The authors find that convergence in measurable work-related characteristics (schooling and work experience) explains one-third to one-half the narrowing. The remainder is attributable to a relative increase in women's returns to experience as well as to declining wages in blue-collar work and other factors. Copyright 1993 by University of Chicago Press.

Date: 1993
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