INTRAURBAN WAGE GRADIENTS - EVIDENCE BY RACE, GENDER, OCCUPATIONAL CLASS, AND SECTOR

A general functional form is used to estimate intraurban wage gradients for various groups of workers with 1980 data from the Philadelphia, Detroit, and Boston metropolitan areas. As predicted by the standard monocentric model of urban land use, the following results are obtained for most groups of white workers: negative and statistically significant wage gradients, steeper wage gradients for higher wage earners, and an increase in the steepness of wage gradients as the CBD is approached. Positive wage gradients are not found for black workers, despite the fact that suburban employers hire large numbers of these workers who reside within the central city. This result is taken as support for the hypothesis that blacks have been disadvantaged by job suburbanization and continued housing market segregation. © 1992.