Inertia and Discrimination in the California State Civil Service

Analysis of the California State Civil Service indicates that its occupational wage structure is very stable. Salaries established in 1931 continue to influence current wages, over sixty years later, even while controlling for market wages. This results from the California Service's policy of maintaining the relative wage structure that was initially established in 1931, despite conflicting market wages. Because the California Service explicitly lowered salaries for female-dominated jobs when it established its initial salary structure, these jobs remained underpaid $1.6 billion from 1973 to 1993. These findings support notions of wage rigidity and fairness in efficiency wage and institutional labor market theories