Black-white wage gaps expand with rising wage inequality(Valerie Wilson and William M. Rodgers III, Economic Policy Institute)
This study extends research done on the Black and white wage gap from the 1960's through the 1990's. A more in-depth analysis of the various income, wealth, and earnings trends since the late 1990’s is provided here. The Black-White wage gaps are wider than they were in comparison to 1979, and to best depict the changes, they identified three significant time periods across that stretch. The wage gap expanded during the 1980’s, only to narrow again during the late 1990’s amongst both men and women, and since 2001, wage gaps have widened further, even more so during the years surrounding the 2008 financial crisis. The magnitude of these wage gaps has varied by gender, experience, educational attainment, and geographical US residency–hence making it reasonable to conclude that there exists no one African American labor market narrative. Although this may hold true, the primary driver of the expansion and narrowing of these wage gaps has been changes in workplace and hiring discrimination, unobservable skills, or a unique combination of the two. Post 2000, discrimination, and unobservable skills have been greater than the effects of the economic recession of 2008, as equality in the labor market remained in the imbalance of political and financial support. Another factor that has consistently contributed to the expansion of wage inequality has been growing earnings inequality in simple terms. Aside from race, gender, and labor market participation, the wages of most US workers–especially wages of work deemed less-skilled–have stagnated even as firm productivity has increased. In sum, this trend contributes to the widening of the Black-White wage gap since the typical Black worker is paid the wage of a low to moderate skilled White worker.