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Midterm #2: Labor
Market Take Home Exam
Answer parts a and b of EITHER question
#1 or question #2. Be sure to read the questions carefully and
to address all aspects of each question and question part. Your
answers should be typed and should total between six and ten
pages.
The questions are designed to encourage
brainstorming and critical analysis. I want you to demonstrate
that you understand the concepts discussed in class well enough
to be able to apply them to new problems. I am not concerned
that you give one "correct" answer or that the answer
be substantiated by data (unless pertinent data has been included
in class materials). But your essay does need to be logically
consistent and informed. Finally, I don't expect you to do additional
reading or research (beyond class readings, lectures, and discussions).
Exams are due by 5 p.m. on Friday,
April 11th. Late exams will be penalized one-half letter grade
per day late.
ANSWER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TWO QUESTIONS:
1. Paula England writes,
- "During the 1970s the younger
cohorts decreased their job segregation more than older cohorts
and more desegregation occurred in professional and managerial
jobs than among blue-collar crafts, operatives or laborers. Thus,
older and younger adults of the working class are living in a
more job-segregated world than the young adults of the upper-middle
class." (Society, July/August 1985, pp.68).
- a) Compare/contrast competing explanations
economists might offer for why young women experience less occupational
segregation (by sex) than older women, and for why professional
women experience less occupational segregation (by sex) than
working class women. To do so, use tools of economic analysis
and theories of the labor market presented in your readings,
or in class (use concepts from part III of the syllabus). Where
appropriate, illustrate your arguments with graphs.
- b) Are affirmative action policies
designed to alleviate occupational segregation less beneficial
for older women and working class women than for younger and
professional or managerial women? Explain why or why not. What
other policies would be particularly beneficial to older women
and to working class women in the U.S. labor force? Explain why
you believe these policies would be helpful.
***For each part of question
#1, be sure to address BOTH differences by AGE and by CLASS.
2. In 1990, European American (EA) women
who worked full-time and full-year had a median income that was
65% the median income of full-time, year round (FTYR) European
American male workers. But in the same year, FTYR American Indian
(AI) women workers earned only 54% as much as FTYR European American
men. (The median income for AI women was 83% the median for EA
women).
- a) Compare/contrast the competing explanations
economists might offer for why AI women have lower median incomes
than EA women. To do so, use tools of analysis and theories of
the labor market presented in the readings and in class (see
section III of the syllabus) and historical and empirical information
from Amott and Matthaei's book. Illustrate these explanations
with graphs.
- b) Would a comparable worth (pay equity)
strategy benefit AI women as much as it would benefit EA women?
Explain why or why not. What other policies would be particularly
beneficial for AI women in the U.S. labor force? Explain why
you believe these policies would be helpful.
Course Description
| Syllabus | History
| Data | Debates
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