Working Paper: NBER ID: w22680
Authors: Joanna Lahey
Abstract: Black women in current cohorts ages 50 to 72 years have lower employment than similar white women, despite having had higher employment when they were middle-aged and younger. Earlier cohorts of older black women also worked more than their white counterparts. Although it is not surprising that white women’s employment should catch up to that of black women given trends in increasing female labor force participation, it is surprising that it should surpass that of black women. This chapter discusses factors that contribute to this differential change over time. Changes in education, marital status, home-ownership, welfare, wealth, and cognition cannot explain this trend, whereas changes in occupation, industry, health, and gross motor functioning may explain some of the trend.
Keywords: black women; employment; labor force participation
JEL Codes: J14; J15; J2
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Changes in occupation and industry (J62) | Employment rates of black women (J79) |
| Changes in health status (I14) | Employment differences among black women (J79) |
| Educational attainment (I21) | Racial employment gap (J79) |
| Race and socioeconomic factors (I24) | Employment outcomes for older women (J21) |
| Controlling for education (I24) | Racial employment gap (J79) |