Arthur Sakamoto

The Rise of Intra-Occupational Wage Inequality in the United States, 1983 to 2002

Wage inequality has increased dramatically in the United States since the 1980s. This article investigates the relationship between this trend and occupational structure measured at the three-digit level. Using the Current Population Survey from 1983 to 2002, we find that the direct association between occupations and wage inequality declined over this period as within-occupational inequality grew faster than betweenoccupational inequality. We estimate multilevel growth models using detailed occupational categories as the unit of analysis to assess how the characteristics of occupations affect changes in mean wages and levels of wage inequality across this time period. The results indicate that changes in mean wages across occupations vary depending on the characteristics of individuals in those occupations and that intraoccupational inequality is difficult to predict using conventional labor force data. These findings seem largely inconsistent with the common sociological view of occupation as the most fundamental feature of the labor market. Correspondingly, a more comprehensive approach—one that incorporates the effects of organizational variables and market processes on rising wage inequality in the New Economy—is warranted.

INEQUALITY AND ATTAINMENT IN A DUAL LABOR MARKET

Models of wage determination and sector attainment are estimated for a cohort of young men in a dual labor market. Neoclassical economic vs. dual labor market views on market equilibrium are contrasted. Although schooling is rewarded similarly in the primary and secondary sectors, other results support the dual labor market view that employment in the primary sector is rationed via a queuing mechanism

Have Asian American Men Achieved Labor Market Parity with White Men

We use the 2003 National Survey of College Graduates to investigate earnings differentials between white and Asian American men. We extend prior literature by disaggregating Asian Americans by their immigration status in relation to the U.S. educational system, and by accounting for the effects of field of study and college type. Net of the latter variables and other demographic controls, native-born Asian American men have 8 percent lower earnings than do measurably comparable white men. Our findings show that Asian American men who were schooled entirely overseas have substantial earnings disadvantages, while Asian American men who obtained their highest degree in the United States but completed high school overseas have an intermediate earnings disadvantage. Net of the control variables, including region of residence, only 1.5-generation Asian American men appear to have reached full parity with whites. Most Asian American men lag at least slightly behind white men in terms of full equality in the labor market net of the measured covariates in our statistical models. No one theoretical approach seems able to explain our findings; instead, we suggest the relevance of several perspectives, including the racialized hierarchy view, the demographic heterogeneity approach, and assimilation theory.

The declining significance of race among American men during The latter half of the twentieth century

The extent to which racial minority groups face discrimination in the labor market is the subject of considerable debate. Using William J. Wilson’s thesis of the declining significance of race as our theoretical context, we provide further empirical evidence about labor market discrimination by investigating wages among African American, American Indian, Chinese American, Hispanic white, Japanese American, and non-Hispanic white men. We find, during the period before the civil rights movement, that a substantively significant wage disadvantage is evident for these minority groups with controls for observed labor force characteristics. In recent data, these net disadvantages are reduced substantially for each of these groups except Hispanics. With the exception of Hispanics, the results support Wilson’s thesis.

American Indian household structure and income

We use the 1980 Public-Use Microdata Sample to consider the relationship between household structure and economic well-being among American Indians. Wefocus on the total U.S. Indian population and on there sidents of 19 “Indian states” where there has been relatively little growth in the Indian population by means ofchanges in racial self-identification. Using Sweet’s (1984) scheme of household types, we find that the prevalence among Indians of female-headed households with children is intermediate between that among blacks and whites, but the prevalence of couple-headed households with children is highest among Indians. Racial differences in the distribution of household types and differences in average household size are important determinants of black-white and Indian-white differences in average household income.

Is Rising Earnings Inequality Associated with Increased Exploitation? Evidence for U.S. Manufacturing Industries, 1971–1996

Is the trend towards rising earnings inequality associated with increased exploitation? The authors investigate exploitation among workers using data for manufacturing industries. Defined as the underpayment of earnings relative to productivity as evaluated in the market, exploitation is measured for various groups of employees. The results indicate significant levels of exploitation among women, Hispanics, African Americans, and blue-collar workers. By contrast, employees who are overpaid relative to their productivities include middle-aged workers, older workers, and managers. Additional findings suggest that the increase in inequality in recent years has been associated with heightened exploitation due to the underpayment of workers in the lowest two quintiles of the earnings distribution, while workers in the upper two quintiles have become increasingly overpaid. Rising earnings inequality in the manufacturing sector thus appears to be associated with increased exploitation when the latter is measured as the underpayment of market value to workers. A related analysis by Liu, Sakamoto, and Su also investigates patterns of economic underpayment and overpayment but does not link them explicitly to inequality in the distribution of earnings and how the level of inequality has been increasing in recent years.

Poverty among Asian Americans in the 21St Century

Using the American Community Survey from 2005 to 2007, this study investigates absolute and relative poverty among Asian-Americans. The results indicate that both absolute and relative poverty are slightly higher among Asians than among whites overall as well as by nativity status (i.e., foreign born vs. native born). More detailed analysis suggests, however, that these racial differences appear to be largely associated with factors relating to immigration. Poverty is much higher among recent immigrants than among those who have been in the United States for more than five years, and foreign-born Asians are more likely to be recent immigrants than are foreign-born whites. Furthermore, after controlling for basic demographic characteristics, poverty is actually lower among foreign-born Asians than among foreign-born whites. Among native-born adult Asians (i.e., those who are not dependent on the incomes of immigrant parents), poverty is lower than among whites especially in terms of being characterized as members of the “working poor.” However, significant ethnic differentials within the Asian category are evident. Poverty rates higher than those for whites continue to be evident among the native-born adult offspring of Cambodians, Hmong, and Thai. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

The Myth of the Model Minority Myth

With continued cost increases as well as demands for charitable donations and economic subsidies, universities are concerned with public relations and political legitimacy. The latter are fostered by the Model Minority Myth which implicitly asserts the moral superiority of universities and their graduates by condemning American society in general and the white working class in particular as being racist. Despite its intellectual and empirical limitations, the Model Minority Myth persists because it promotes the political power of universities in the current era of increasing inequality and the rising exploitation of the working class that are fostered by educational credentialism.

A Fifty-Year Perspective on the Declining Significance of Race in the Occupational Attainment of White and Black Men

Using William J. Wilsons thesis of the declining significance of race as our theoretical context, we investigate comparable models of occupational attainment before and after the civil rights movement. The results indicate that in the later period the net disadvantage of being black is consistently lower than in the pre-civil rights period. Furthermore, in the later period the effects of class among black men are consistently greater than are the effects of race. These findings support Wilsons thesis of the declining significance of race.

Demography of Social Stratification

Issues pertaining to social stratification are increasingly considered in demographic research. In recent studies of morbidity and mortality, for example, education, income, and occupation typically have substantially large net effects (e.g., Cambois, Robine, and Hayward 2001; Duleep 1989; Gortmaker and Wise 1997; Johnson, Sorlie, and Backlund 1999; Mare 1990; Rogers 1992; Ross and Mirowsky 1999; Ross and Wu 1995). Similarly, studies of fertility frequently refer to education and other variables pertaining to social class (e.g., Li and Choe 1997; Kohler, Behrman, and Watkins 2001; Powers and Hsueh 1997)—or at least to socioeconomic considerations involved in labor force participation, child-care costs, and economic opportunity costs (e.g., Blau and Robins 1989; Borg 1989). Socioeconomic motives and consequences are also important issues in demographic research on immigration and migration (e.g., Boyle et al. 2001; Oropesa and Landale 2000; Reed 2001). A recent presidential address to the Population Association of America focused provocatively on socioeconomic inequality and concomitant social problems (Massey 1996). The address was published in Demography along with the commentaries of noted experts in the demography of social stratification (Danziger 1996; Farley 1996; Hout,