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Title: United States Men's and Women's Wage Attainment, 1968-1988
Resulting in 1 citation.
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Taniguchi, Hiromi |
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United States Men's and Women's Wage Attainment, 1968-1988 Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1997 Cohort(s): Mature Women, Older Men, Young Men, Young Women Publisher: UMI - University Microfilms, Bell and Howell Information and Learning Keyword(s): Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO); Ethnic Studies; Gender Differences; Industrial Relations; Racial Studies; Wage Differentials; Wage Gap Using the National Longitudinal Survey, 1968-1988, this study examines the effects of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)law on the hourly wages of workers in one of the earliest generations exposed as young adults to the law. While the opponents of EEO argue that employers adopted these programs as a result of federal pressure, recent studies in organizational sociology have shown the more voluntary aspect of employers' compliance with the law. In light of the retreat of the federal government from EEO in recent years, it is timely to examine the effects of EEO law on workers while considering their variation across political regimes. I draw on the administrative policy perspective and institutional theory in order to specify the ways in which EEO law affects the life chances of minority and female workers. The administrative policy perspective suggests that the intensity of federal regulation has a positive impact on minority and female workers' wage attainment. By contrast, institutional theory suggests that while federal pressure is critical in shaping normative environments stressing social equity, in which employers create gender and race neutral personnel practices, these practices, once implemented, will benefit women and minorities regardless of political regime. This study shows that, controlling for average firm size, black workers, and black women in particular, significantly benefited from EEO law, which I measure by the proportion of employees in each 2 digit industry working in firms covered by the EEO Commission's reporting requirements (i.e., EEO coverage). Moreover, these workers continued to benefit from the law in the late eighties that witnessed a significant setback of EEO law, thus lending support to institutional theory. In general, my results are consistent with institutional arguments that minority workers benefit from the type of bureaucratic procedures that are likely found in "covered" sectors (e.g., job ladders and grievance procedures). In the meantime, my study also confirms the wage depressing effect of occupational segregation particularly for black women. EEO enforcement may be less likely to affect workers in segregated occupations. |
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Bibliography Citation
Taniguchi, Hiromi. United States Men's and Women's Wage Attainment, 1968-1988. Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1997. |