Working Paper: NBER ID: w22797
Authors: Patrick Bayer; Kerwin Kofi Charles
Abstract: This paper presents new evidence on the evolution of black-white earnings differences among all men at different points in the distribution. We study two dimensions of earnings gaps: the black-white difference in earnings; and the difference between a black man’s position in the black earnings and the position he would hold in the white distribution. After narrowing from 1940 to the mid-1970s, the median black-white earning gap has since grown as large as it was in 1950. Even as his relative earnings improved then worsened, the median black man’s relative position in the earnings distribution has remained essentially constant. Black men at higher percentiles have experienced significant gains in relative earnings since 1940. Unlike blacks at the median and below, whose relative earnings changes have been chiefly the result of narrowing and stretching of the overall earnings distribution, higher percentile blacks have also experienced significant positional gains over the past 70 years.
Keywords: black-white earnings differences; racial disparities; quantile regressions; educational attainment; labor market dynamics
JEL Codes: J15; J31; J71; K42; N32; N92
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| cumulative effects of various factors (D91) | earnings gap (J31) |
| increasing returns to education (I26) | black relative earnings (J79) |
| positional convergence (F62) | earnings gap at the 90th percentile (J31) |
| black-white difference in median annual earnings (J31) | earnings gap (J31) |
| median black man's relative position in the earnings distribution (D31) | earnings ranking (D31) |