ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the history of male wage inequality and relative wages, and shows how changes in labor supply have served to magnify the effects. Wage inequality across and within schooling levels for males in the United States increased dramatically during the 1980s. In spite of the "white-collar" nature of the recent recession, wage inequality across and within schooling levels has continued to increase, suggesting a continuation of the underlying market wide changes that dominated the 1980s. The rise in wage inequality during the 1980s is best illustrated by the ratio of wages for college graduates to those of high school graduates. The fact that relative wages for college graduates have resumed their rise after a brief decline in the late 1980s is important. The most significant increase in male wage inequality, however, occurred during the 1980s, with the top quintile gaining more than 23 percent relative to the bottom quintile.
