Decomposition of change in black-white wage gaps with union membership and union density, by gender and potential experience, 1983-2015
| New entrant men | New entrant women | |||||||||||
| 1983-89 | 1989-96 | 1996-00 | 2000-07 | 2007-15 | 1983-15 | 1983-89 | 1989-96 | 1996-00 | 2000-07 | 2007-15 | 1983-15 | |
| Total change in gap (total observables + total unobservables) | 4.75% | -2.27% | -2.82% | 2.13% | 4.60% | 1.58% | 5.87% | 2.82% | -4.46% | 1.35% | 8.69% | 7.64% |
| Contribution from: | ||||||||||||
| Total observables (quantities + prices) | 3.60 | -0.95 | -0.74 | 0.58 | 2.00 | 1.80 | 5.27 | 2.32 | 0.14 | 0.31 | 3.93 | 8.84 |
| Total quantities (education + experience + region & metro + union membership) | 1.48 | -1.14 | -1.46 | 1.32 | 0.40 | -0.67 | 4.42 | 2.01 | -0.80 | 1.03 | 2.87 | 6.90 |
| Education, experience, region, metro status | 1.21 | -1.01 | -1.53 | 1.06 | 0.43 | -1.09 | 4.21 | 2.10 | -0.70 | 0.84 | 2.85 | 6.77 |
| Unions | 0.27 | -0.13 | 0.07 | 0.26 | -0.03 | 0.42 | 0.21 | -0.08 | -0.10 | 0.19 | 0.02 | 0.12 |
| Total prices (education + experience + region & metro + industry + occupation) | 2.12 | 0.19 | 0.72 | -0.74 | 1.60 | 2.47 | 0.85 | 0.31 | 0.94 | -0.71 | 1.06 | 1.95 |
| Education, experience, region, metro status | 1.83 | 0.08 | 0.30 | -0.48 | 1.38 | 1.79 | 0.50 | 0.16 | 0.58 | -0.52 | 0.80 | 1.14 |
| Unions | 0.28 | 0.11 | 0.42 | -0.26 | 0.21 | 0.68 | 0.35 | 0.14 | 0.37 | -0.20 | 0.26 | 0.80 |
| Total unobservables (discrimination + wage Inequality) | 1.15 | -1.32 | -2.08 | 1.55 | 2.60 | -0.22 | 0.59 | 0.50 | -4.60 | 1.04 | 4.76 | -1.20 |
| “Quantities” (discrimination) | 1.27 | -1.19 | -2.66 | 0.97 | 1.26 | -2.48 | 0.40 | 0.24 | -4.81 | 0.93 | 3.64 | -2.81 |
| “Prices” (wage inequality) | -0.11 | -0.13 | 0.58 | 0.58 | 1.34 | 2.26 | 0.20 | 0.26 | 0.21 | 0.11 | 1.12 | 1.61 |
| Experienced men | Experienced women | |||||||||||
| 1983-89 | 1989-96 | 1996-00 | 2000-07 | 2007-15 | 1983-15 | 1983-89 | 1989-96 | 1996-00 | 2000-07 | 2007-15 | 1983-15 | |
| Total change in gap (total observables + total unobservables) | 2.81% | 0.41% | -1.43% | 2.48% | -0.35% | 3.00% | 3.67% | 3.18% | -0.56% | 1.68% | 3.10% | 9.26% |
| Contribution from: | ||||||||||||
| Total observables (quantities + prices) | 2.09 | -1.27 | 0.38 | -0.36 | 1.11 | 0.38 | 2.57 | 0.52 | 0.52 | 1.09 | 1.27 | 5.05 |
| Total quantities (education + experience + region & metro + union membership) | -0.04 | -2.37 | -0.47 | -0.11 | -0.33 | -3.93 | 1.91 | -0.88 | -0.34 | 1.41 | 0.28 | 1.52 |
| Education, experience, region, metro status | -0.58 | -2.21 | -0.52 | -0.49 | -0.26 | -4.54 | 1.38 | -0.79 | -0.37 | 1.05 | 0.20 | 0.77 |
| Unions | 0.53 | -0.16 | 0.05 | 0.38 | -0.07 | 0.61 | 0.53 | -0.09 | 0.03 | 0.36 | 0.09 | 0.75 |
| Total prices (education + experience + region & metro + industry + occupation) | 2.13 | 1.10 | 0.85 | -0.25 | 1.43 | 4.31 | 0.66 | 1.40 | 0.87 | -0.31 | 0.98 | 3.53 |
| Education, experience, region, metro status | 2.32 | 0.86 | 0.29 | -0.11 | 1.15 | 3.32 | 0.53 | 1.07 | 0.10 | -0.21 | 0.69 | 1.89 |
| Unions | -0.19 | 0.23 | 0.56 | -0.14 | 0.29 | 0.99 | 0.13 | 0.33 | 0.77 | -0.10 | 0.30 | 1.64 |
| Total unobservables (discrimination + wage inequality) | 0.72 | 1.69 | -1.81 | 2.83 | -1.46 | 2.61 | 1.09 | 2.66 | -1.08 | 0.59 | 1.83 | 4.21 |
| “Quantities” (discrimination) | 0.94 | 1.58 | -2.01 | 1.95 | -3.53 | -0.24 | 0.90 | 2.23 | -1.04 | 0.11 | 0.76 | 2.31 |
| “Prices” (wage inequality) | -0.22 | 0.11 | 0.21 | 0.89 | 2.07 | 2.85 | 0.20 | 0.43 | -0.05 | 0.48 | 1.07 | 1.90 |
Note: Total unobservables include factors such as racial discrimination, unobservable skills, and wage inequality. Total observables include education, experience, region of residence, and metro status.
Source: EPI analysis of Current Population Survey (CPS) Outgoing Rotation Group microdata