interchangeably. For consistency, we will use the terminology found in the source material and government

data.

Earnings Gaps by Race and Gender

A possible signal of labor market discrimination is when an employer pays one group less than another. Figure

14.15 shows the average wage of Black workers as a ratio of the average wage of White workers and the average

wage of female workers as a ratio of the average wage of male workers. Research by the economists Francine

Blau and Laurence Kahn shows that the gap between the earnings of women and men did not move much in

the 1970s, but has declined since the 1980s. Detailed analysis by economists Kerwin Kofi Charles and Patrick
344 14 • Labor Markets and Income

Bayer show that the gap between the earnings of Black and White people diminished in the 1970s, but grew

again so that current differences are as wide as they were nearly 70 years ago. In both gender and race, an

earnings gap remains.
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