CHANGES IN THE STRUCTURE AND QUALITY OF JOBS IN THE UNITED-STATES - EFFECTS BY RACE AND GENDER, 1973-1990

Using 17 measures of job quality from the 1980 Census, the Current Pop ulation Survey, and the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, the authors perform a cluster analysis that groups 621 jobs covering 94% of the w ork force into six job categories (termed ''contours''), a job classif ication closely resembling those suggested by labor market segmentatio n theory. The distribution of employment over the period 1973-90 shift ed sharply away from the two middle-quality contours toward the two hi ghest-quality contours. The two lowest-quality contours show no declin e in employment share in the 1980s. The declining relative position of employed black and Hispanic men stems from both a worsening job mix r elative to white men and a sharp drop in the quality of low-skill jobs . Female workers experienced both a greater shift away from jobs in th e lower-quality contours and higher real earnings growth within each j ob contour than male workers.