Producing and Reproducing Class and Status Differences: Racial and Gender Gaps in U.S. Employment and Retirement Income

Abstract

Recent research indicates that between 1970 and 1990 the racial gap in employment income increased (Cancio, Evans and Maume 1996), while the gender gap decreased (Wellington 1994). We find a parallel pattern in retirement income for the cohort that retired in 1980–1981. The racial gap is greater in retirement than it was in employment, while the gender gap is smaller. Regression analyses specify the qualitatively different ways in which racial and gender inequality are produced in employment and reproduced in retirement. Focusing on how self-employment and marital status interact with race and gender in predicting income, we explain how the redistributive effects of Social Security, pensions, and assets contribute to the enduring racial gap (and, perhaps, to the declining gender gap).