ABSTRACT
[B]lack women workers have experienced a dramatic improvement in their labor market status, both absolutely and relative to other workers. Since 1955, black women’s earnings have increased from one-third to two-thirds those of white men. This progress was achieved by a drastic redistribution among occupations. In 1940, [over] two-thirds of black working women were employed in domestic and agricultural work, the lowest-paid rungs of the American labor market, as shown in Table 18.1. Had black women remained concentrated in these occupations, their relative earnings would be little better now. In 1988, only 3 percent of black working women were engaged in domestic and agricultural work. Now more black women are in clerical work than in any other occupation, as is true for women of all other ethnic backgrounds.
