BLACK CONCENTRATION EFFECTS ON BLACK-WHITE AND GENDER INEQUALITY - MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS FOR US METROPOLITAN-AREAS

This investigation into effects of metropolitan-area black population proportions on earnings inequality differs from previous studies in tw o principal ways: It examines black population effects on gender as we ll as black-white inequality; and it employs a hierarchical linear mod el for individual and metropolitan area data from the 1990 Census. Pri ncipal findings are that greater relative black population size is ass ociated with (1) higher white earnings and lower black earnings for me n and women, and (2) reduced gender inequality among black workers. Th us, black-white inequality is higher relative to gender inequality in labor markets with greater black representation, which has important i mplications for the study of interaction in stratification systems.