ECONOMIC

ferences in their mix of occupations, rather than to earnings differenceswithin individual occupations. To estimate the effect of occupational mixon the earnings of black males, indexes were calculated to measure whatblack males would earn if they had the white male occupational distributionbut the earnings of black males within each occupation. Similarindexes were computed to measure what white women would earn if theyhad the same occupational distribution as white men, but the earnings ofwhite women within occupations.Preliminary results, using 1970 census data on 443 detailed occupations,indicate that black males would have hourly earnings about 18 percenthigher if they had the white male mix of occupations. Since white malesearned 50 percent more than black males, occupational differences wouldappear to "explain" 35 percent of the differential. However, those withhigh levels of education have a very different occupational distributioncompared to those with lower levels of education. Hence it may be thatin adjusting for occupation one is really adjusting for education. Indexescalculated for seperate education groups indicate a much smaller explanatorypower of occupation. For example, among males who completed 12 to 15years of schooling, the earnings of black workers would be increased by only8 percent if they were given the white occupational distribution, and thiswould account for 22 percent of the race differential in earnings.Comparing white women and white men 25 to 64 years old, the preliminaryresults for 1970 indicate that women would increase their earningsby about 11 percent if they had the occupational mix of men, and thiswould account for about 21 percent of the gross earnings differentialbetween women and men. Since women have completed roughly the sameaverage years of schooling as men, education would not be expected tointeract so strongly with occupation. Within education groups, occupationalmix seems to explain less for women below the college level thanfor women as a whole, but relatively more at the college level.Since occupation alone does not explain very much of the overall earningsdifferential between men and women, it would seem that earnings differentialswithin occupations, as they are now defined, must be more importantthan earnings differentials between occupations. In other words, ifcustom or overt barriers to entry have relegated women to different occupationsfrom those of men, this factor has not been the major one inlowering their earnings.It has already been noted that earnings differences between women andmen are in large part a consequence of differences in lifetime labor marketexperience. Since earnings differences between occupations may also beinfluenced by sex differences in the extent of post-school training betweenoccupations, it may be necessary to make a distinction between the explanatorypower of occupational mix per se and the explanatory power ofoccupational differences in experience. This requires data not currentlyavailable.160