Labor market experiences and expectancies

Abstract

Comparisons are made of the labor market experiences of a national sample of employed Black and White men and women. While women had “invested in their human capital” nearly as often as men, they less often had tried job training or job changes, and more often had acquired additional schooling, to improve their market positions. Compared to White men, both groups of women also expressed lower work-related expectancies. Part of the White male expectancy edge can be attributed to differences in past investment strategies. Black and white women who had tried to make work changes did not differ from White men in present expectancies. While the causal relationship between experiences and expectancies needs further examination, especially in longitudinal studies, these results suggest that adult socialization in the labor market, while generally neglected, is a potentially important area of research on women's employment.