FROM ESCALATOR TO HOURGLASS - CHANGES IN THE US OCCUPATIONAL WAGE STRUCTURE 1949-1989

In this article we test whether the United States has evolved an ''hou rglass economy'' characterized by a proliferation of jobs at the top a nd the bottom of the wage distribution for those with high and low edu cations, but few jobs in the middle for those with modest educational attainments. Rather than considering the distribution of actual wages, we examine the distribution of occupational wages: the average wages attached to detailed occupational categories. Using data from the 1950 , 1970, and 1990 PUMS files, we compare distributions of occupational wages for men and women in 1949, 1969, and 1989. We find that the expe rience of men generally conforms to the hourglass metaphor: after 1969 , the structure of male occupational wages polarized and began to assu me the shape of an hourglass, with one's position in the hierarchy dep ending largely on education. For women, however, the hourglass metapho r fails. The distribution of occupational wages in 1989 remains pyrami dal in shape, and position is not as strongly connected to schooling a s among men. (C) 1998 Academic Press.