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Abstract
I examine how different dimensions of restructuring are related to gender wage inequality. The analysis extends research on regional wage differentials to include differentials between men and women in two educational groups at opposite ends of the educational hierarchy. Relative wages across regional labor markets in the United States are modeled in a multilevel framework as outcomes of variation in economic conditions associated with restructuring. Using microdata from the 1990 PUMS-A 5 percent census files, as well as independent sources of macro-data on counties, I show that the direction of wage changes associated with each dimension of restructuring generally does not differ by gender or education. Wages are either higher or lower than the average labor market for all groups. However, there are significant differences in relative wages by gender and many important differences between the two educational groups in the spatial distribution of gender wage inequality. Several “spatial routes” to gender wage equality emerge that differ from the dominant temporal explanations of the declining gender wage gap and differ according to the educational background of workers.
Notes
* I acknowledge the financial support of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School and the Rutgers University Research Council. I thank Eric Parker for comments on this paper and many others who have commented generously on earlier versions, especially Jane Collins, Aimee Dechter, Kathryn Edin, Robert Mare, Patricia Roos, and Thomas Rudel. I also thank three anonymous reviewers and Susan Hanson, who provided excellent suggestions for further revisions.