I'm going to post a chart you've seen a million times before (the myth of wage stagnation)

[KentuckyWoman]

68. I think you are partly right but have the chicken vs egg backwards

I think the powers that be started pushing wages down period and then looked for any excuse they could to pay someone less.

First they came up with quotas..... blacks could be paid less than whites. So to compete for jobs white blue collar workers had to work for lower wages as well. In response more women took "official" jobs in addition to the "unofficial" money earning tasks they already did.

By the early 80's when the fat cats could not figure out any more ways to shove down wages they started offshoring the jobs and closing plants in the USA. Told their "lazy" workers to get off their butts and go to college. Well what do you know..... 20 yrs later they are offshoring the college jobs too. Shock of shocks.

So I think you have it backward. The wages did not go down because of a higher work participation rate overall that included women. The women got into the official workforce in higher numbers because the wages for men had already been pushed down to the point households could not make it on one job.

Plus, you can say wages for white women have gone up but that is not actually right either. Women have pushed into more upper levels. I'm pretty sure if you look at the average earnings for any job that was dominated by white males and now shared with women the wages for that particular job description have gone down. The fat cats will use any excuse to pay less.

I rec'd your post. I think this is a good discussion to have. While the particular factiods in your OP are correct - having lived through this era I am convinced you have it backward.

Thanks for the OP.