Volume 8, Number 3 (Summer) 1973
Struyk, Raymond J. 1973. "Explaining Variations in the Hourly Wage Rates of Urban Minority Group Females." Journal of Human Resources 8(3):349-364.
A theory to explain the variation in earned incomes of the minority group females in a centralized urban area is developed and tested. The theory posits the number of hours worked as a determinant of the hourly wage rate, given employer's preference for full-time workers. From a standard labor force participation model, the importance of the wage rate as a determinant of hours worked is derived, thus establishing the simultaneity of hours worked and the wage rate. The relations are verified by ordinary least squares but not by two-stage least squares estimates. The explanation for the break in joint determinacy of hours worked and wages rests in the inability of these women to exercise work-choice because of severe family income constraints.
The author is a staff member of the Urban Institute. The use of data compiled by the Southwest Center for Urban Research is gratefully acknowledged. The collection of the data was financed in part through a grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, under the provisions of Section 104 of the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act of 1966. Comments by Dave Bowers, James Fruend, and a referee on earlier drafts were of great assistance. Bruce Justice helped with the computations.
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