One consequence of confidence in meritocracy and social mobility among members of negatively stereotyped groups is that they may underestimate the value of their own work. That is, if ideology regulates perceptions of fair economic return for one's work, then economic self-worth should be linked to social identity to the extent that people endorse system-justifying attitudes. To test this hypothesis, participants indicated the value of their work after experimental manipulations of the cognitive salience of their social identities. In Experiment 1, Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong judged their work as less valuable when their ethnic identity was salient to the degree they endorsed social hierarchy. In Experiment 2, U.S. whites self-enhanced whereas Asians and Hispanics self-derogated more when ethnic identity was made salient, and self-derogation occurred to the degree that participants identified as politically conservative. In Experiment 3, women either self-enhanced or self-derogated their work in stereotype-consistent ways more when their gender identity was salient, and did so to the extent they endorsed system-justifying attitudes. In Experiment 4, students devalued the economic worth of their college's graduates more when reminded of a higher-status than equal-status institution, and did so to the degree that they identified as politically conservative. Together, findings suggest that stereotype-consistent economic self-enhancement or self-derogation is animated by the degree to which people have been persuaded that the status quo is justified.