Southern gains and northern losses: Regional variation in the evolution of black/white earnings differences in the United States, 1976–2017

Abstract

AbstractWe document large differences among regions of the United States in the trends of the black/white earnings gap among full‐time workers from 1976 to 2017. Outside the South, the earnings of black workers grew more slowly than those of non‐Hispanic white workers. These relative decreases were much larger for women than for men. However, in the South, the racial earnings gap shrank for men, and changed little for women. Thus, we find a substantial convergence across regions in the black/white earnings gap. The most important explanations of the racial earnings gaps are persistent racial differences in educational attainment and persistent occupational segregation. However, differences in observables leave much of the racial earnings gaps unexplained. The regional convergence in the racial earnings gap is evident in both explained and unexplained gaps for both women and men.