Wage variations in advanced producer service work in New York

The purpose of this article is to examine the effects of demographic and human capital factors on wage variation within the New York Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area. White-collar workers in the advanced producer service sector are categorised into high-order and low-order occupational groups. Furthermore, the sample includes only single never-married workers. The data are obtained from 1990 PUMS 1 per cent census files. The results show that the demographic and human capital factors explain very little variation in wages in Manhattan. However, the predictive power of the above variables improves in other portions of the metropolitan area. The results also show that the gap between whites and minorities are much larger than the male-female gap after accounting for education and work status. The findings imply the importance of institutional differences in internal labour market conditions (e.g. employer-employee relations, upward mobility, glass ceiling, sheltering and bargaining) affecting wage differences among race-gender groups.