What Went Wrong? The Erosion of Relative Earnings and Employment Among Young Black Men in the 1980s / John Bound, Richard B. Freeman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bound, John.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Freeman, Richard B.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w3778.

NBER working paper series no. w3778

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African American men--Economic conditions.

African American men.

African American youth--Economic conditions.

African American youth.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1991.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1991.

Summary:

This paper shows a widening in black-white earnings and employment gaps among young men from the mid-l970s through the 1980s that differs among subgroups. Earnings gaps increased most among college graduates and in the midwest while gaps in employment-population rates grew most among high school dropouts. We attribute the differential widening to distinct shifts in demand for subgroups due to changes in industry and regional employment, the falling real minimum wage and deunionisation, the growth of the relative supply of black to white workers that was marked among college graduates, and to increased crime, that was marked among high school dropouts. The differential factors affecting the groups highlights the economic diversity of black Americans.

Notes:

Print version record

July 1991.