Why the Gender Gap in Wages Narrowed in the 1980s.

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.