The Relative Earnings of Young Mexican, Black, and White Women

Using the NLSY, we find that young Mexican women earn 9% less than young White women while young Black women earn 15% less than young White women. Although young Mexican women earn less than young White women, they do surprisingly well compared to young Black women. We show that it is crucially important to account for actual labor market experience. We further show that low labor force attachment is the most important determinant of the Black-White wage differential for young women while education is the most important explanation for the MexicanWhite wage gap for young women. We thank Eric Helland, Peter Kuhn, Lonnie Magee, Shelley Phipps, and Joanne Roberts for helpful comments. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Canadian International Labour Network (CILN) at McMaster University. The usual disclaimer applies.