The effects of rising female labor supply on male wages

This article examines whether increases in female labor supply contributed to rising wage inequality and declining real wages of less skilled males du ring the 1980s. While male wage declines are concentrated in the 1980s, fem ale labor supply growth slowed in the 1980s relative to the 1970s. Women al so increased the relative supply of skill in the economy in the 1980s. Usin g state-level data we estimate cross-substitution effects between men and w omen. Once we account for demand changes we find little evidence that women substitute for men or that they contributed to the rapid inequality growth in the 1980s.