The Importance of Cost of Living and Education in Estimates of the Conditional Wage Gap Between Black and White Women

• Autores: Peter McHenry, Melissa McInerney
• Localización: Journal of human resources, ISSN 0022-166X, Vol. 49, Nº 3, 2014, págs. 695-722
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • While evidence about discrimination in U.S. labor markets typically implies preferential treatment for whites, recent studies document a substantial wage premium for black women (for example, Fryer 2011). Although differential selection of black and white women into the labor market has been a suggested explanation, we demonstrate that accounting for selection does not eliminate the estimated premium. We then incorporate two additional omitted variables recently documented in the literature: (1) local cost of living and (2) years of education attained, conditional on AFQT score. After controlling for these variables, we find no evidence of a wage premium for black women.