Accumulating Disadvantage: The Growth in the Black-White Wage Gap Among Women

Heartfelt thanks to Becky Pettit for commenting on countless drafts of this paper as well as her inspiration, encouragement, and wise counsel. Thanks also to Barbara Reskin and Julie Brines for their enthusiasm and insightful comments regarding this research. The growth in the black-white wage gap among women 2 Between 1980 and 2002, the black-white wage gap among women grew from 6 percent to 18 percent, climbing steadily despite improving economic conditions in the 1990s. This paper uses decomposition and relative distribution methods to examine whether common explanations for wage inequality such as skills mismatch, deindustrialization, the bifurcation of jobs, and the eroding wage floor contributed to this marked growth. Relative distribution methods show the increasingly dense accumulation of black women’s wages at the lowest deciles of white women’s wage distribution. Regression decomposition indicates that differential skills became increasingly important over the observation period as white women gained in college degree attainment as well as in returns to post-secondary education. The transition to a service economy rewarded both black and white women by improving their representation in white collar occupations with higher mean wages, yet white women reaped greater benefits. Althoug