OCCUPATIONAL GENDER SEGREGATION AND THE EARNINGS GAP - CHANGES IN THE1980S

The 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census data confirm the decline in the earnings gap between men and women. Occupational segregation by gender also de clined during the 1980s. Cross-sectional decompositions show that 15% of the earnings gap would be eliminated if women's occupation distribu tions were the same as men's. Over-time decompositions show that decli ning occupational segregation accounted for about 36% of the decline i n the earnings gap; most of the declining earnings gap resulted from m ore equal pay within occupations. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.