Women, War, and Wages: The Effect of Female Labor Supply on the Wage Structure at Midcentury

TLDR

World War II mobilization permanently increased women’s participation in the workforce. The study examines how the wartime surge in female labor supply altered the wage structure. The effect varied by state: in states with higher male mobilization, women worked more after the war, which lowered both female and male wages and widened earnings inequality between high‑school and college‑educated men, suggesting women were closer substitutes for high‑school‑educated men than for lower‑skill workers.

Abstract

We exploit the military mobilization for World War II to investigate the effects of female labor supply on the wage structure. The mobilization drew many women into the workforce permanently. But the impact was not uniform across states. In states with greater mobilization of men, women worked more after the war and in 1950, though not in 1940. These induced shifts in female labor supply lowered female and male wages and increased earnings inequality between high school– and college‐educated men. It appears that at midcentury, women were closer substitutes for high school men than for those with lower skills.