Chart Detail
Dimensions of wage inequality, by gender, 1973–2011
| Wage gap* | Change | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 1979 | 1989 | 1995 | 2000 | 2007 | 2011 | 1973–1979 | 1979–1989 | 1989–2000 | 2000–2007 | 2007–2011 | ||
| A. Total wage inequality** | |||||||||||||
| 90/10 (x/y) | Men | 128.0% | 130.0% | 144.3% | 151.1% | 150.3% | 155.3% | 160.9% | 2.0 | 14.3 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 5.7 |
| Women | 115.9 | 103.2 | 134.9 | 137.6 | 137.7 | 143.7 | 145.9 | -12.7 | 31.8 | 2.8 | 6.0 | 2.1 | |
| 90/50 | Men | 60.3 | 58.8 | 69.2 | 76.1 | 79.5 | 83.0 | 87.7 | -1.5 | 10.4 | 10.2 | 3.6 | 4.7 |
| Women | 59.2 | 60.6 | 70.5 | 76.5 | 78.2 | 81.3 | 83.2 | 1.4 | 9.9 | 7.7 | 3.1 | 1.9 | |
| 50/10 | Men | 67.6 | 71.1 | 75.1 | 75.0 | 70.8 | 72.3 | 73.3 | 3.5 | 3.9 | -4.2 | 1.4 | 1.0 |
| Women | 56.7 | 42.5 | 64.4 | 61.1 | 59.5 | 62.4 | 62.7 | -14.2 | 21.9 | -4.9 | 2.9 | 0.2 | |
| B. Between-group inequality*** | |||||||||||||
| Education | |||||||||||||
| College/high school | Men | 25.1% | 20.2% | 34.0% | 37.1% | 42.0% | 44.1% | 44.8% | -4.9 | 13.8 | 8.0 | 2.1 | 0.7 |
| Women | 36.5 | 25.0 | 40.0 | 46.7 | 47.9 | 48.5 | 48.7 | -11.5 | 15.0 | 7.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | |
| High school/less than high school | Men | 22.3 | 22.0 | 22.1 | 26.5 | 26.0 | 25.2 | 28.7 | -0.3 | 0.1 | 3.9 | -0.7 | 3.4 |
| Women | 26.2 | 21.3 | 26.4 | 29.8 | 29.5 | 27.7 | 26.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| Experience**** | |||||||||||||
| Middle/young (35 yrs/25) |
Men | 22.0% | 21.5% | 25.7% | 26.9% | 22.9% | 24.3% | 27.5% | -0.5 | 4.1 | -2.8 | 1.4 | 3.2 |
| Women | 8.0 | 9.5 | 17.8 | 21.7 | 18.4 | 20.9 | 22.4 | 1.5 | 8.3 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 1.5 | |
| Old/middle (50 yrs/35) |
Men | 3.4 | 8.2 | 12.4 | 12.7 | 8.8 | 9.4 | 11.8 | 4.7 | 4.3 | -3.7 | 0.7 | 2.4 |
| Women | -2.0 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 5.3 | 4.7 | 8.3 | 8.6 | 2.4 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 0.3 | |
| C. Within-group inequality***** | |||||||||||||
| Men | 42.3% | 42.8% | 46.7% | 47.8% | 48.1% | 50.1% | 50.7% | 1.4% | 9.0% | 3.0% | 4.2% | 1.1% | |
| Women | 41.8 | 40.2 | 44.7 | 46.7 | 45.8 | 48.4 | 48.5 | -3.8 | 11.4 | 2.4 | 5.7 | 0.2 | |
* Log wage differential
** Log wage ratio of x/y
*** Simple human capital regression of log wages; see table notes
**** Ratio x/y
***** Mean square error from same regressions as education and experience
Source: Authors' analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata
Documentation and methodology
All of the data are based on analyses of the CPS-ORG data described in Appendix B and used in various tables. The measures of “total wage inequality” are natural logs of wage ratios (multiplied by 100) computed from Tables 4.5 and 4.6. The exception is 1979 data for women, which are 1978–1980 averages; we use these to smooth the volatility of the series, especially at the 10th percentile. The “between-group inequalities” are computed from regressions of the log of hourly wages on education categorical variables (advanced, college only, some college, less than high school with high school omitted), experience as a quartic, marital status, race, and region (4). The college/high school and high school/less-than-high-school premiums are simply the coefficient on “college” and “less than high school” (expressed as the advantage of “high school” over “less than high school” wages). The experience differentials are the differences in the value of age (calculated from the coefficients of the quartic specification) evaluated at 25, 35, and 50 years old. “Within-group wage inequality” is measured as the root mean square error from the same log wage regressions used to compute age and education differentials.
