Reply #224: One at a time [View All]

[lumberjack_jeff]

1) first, the unadjusted differential for the study of which you speak is 44%, meaning that women earn 66% of what men do, without normalizing.
2) the timeframe from which your data is taken is from 1983 to 2000. It is not current, and (despite the significant conflict of interest questions about the entrusting the AAUW to do an impartial study which justifies their existence) the AAUW data is much newer.
3) the data of every study is only normalized with very easy to quantify data (e.g. not comparing paraeducators to commercial fishermen)

http://www.dllr.state.md.us/labor/equalpay/appendixatoeequalpay.doc

"There are several theories about why such disparities exist. According to a study conducted by the United States General Accounting Office, without adjusting for factors that affect wages, women earned 44% less than men during the period of the 1983-2000 (GAO, 44). However, once those factors were incorporated into the equation, the gap dropped to 21%. In recent years the gap is decreasing and, in Maryland, it is substantially less than in most other states. Among the significant factors were work patterns, choice of industry, choice of occupation, race, marital status, and job tenure. In consulting other similar studies and sources, the two major factors seemingly affecting wages are the differences in industries and occupations females and males choose, as well as the work patterns they have at those jobs (GAO, 10)."

For instance, in no study is an attempt made to quantify the effect that the fact that men work longer hours than women has on their career prospects.

In public employment, where men only work only slightly more than women with equal education, women made 80% to 91% of the wages of men. Bear in mind that this still treats the schoolteacher as equivalent to the civil engineer, and that this data is averaged from 1983 to 2000.

Further, table 5 indicates that a man in the private sector, with a college degree worked 46.2 hours per week, and made $65,000/year. The study then did the math and decided that his wages were $27.34. This overstates his wage significantly. After accounting for overtime pay rates, his wage was $25.35.

Women tend to choose careers which are more family friendly. This single factor explains almost entirely the pay disparity.

Starting on page 23 of the Maryland report above, is appended another report from Institute for Women’s Policy Research prepared for the state.

Amid a whole bunch of hyperventilation over the horrid situation that justifies the IWPR's existence;

Women working (full time full year) earn on average $8,600 per year less than their male counterparts, for a gender earnings ratio of 82 percent. In hourly wage terms, for every dollar men earn, women earn 87 cents (88 cents for FTFY workers).

Men on average work 4.6 hours per week and one week per year more than women. This difference is smaller for people working full-time full-year: Women average 42.3 hours per week, compared with 44.9 hours for men, and both groups work on average 51.9 weeks per year. Thus, average levels of work effort are similar across the whole workforce and nearly identical for male and female FTFY workers.

AND

More than one-fifth of the difference in women’s and men’s earnings cannot be explained by differences in their education, potential work experience, job characteristics, or other measurable factors.

What she's essentially saying is that once you correct for the measurable factors, that the 12% differential declines to something less than 3%. And the flawed methodology she uses to determine an hourly wage rate, (ignoring the effect of overtime pay rates) explains that small discrepancy entirely.

The AAUW came to a similar conclusion, similarly obfuscated. This is taken directly from AAUW's report.
http://www.aauw.org/research/upload/behindPayGap.pdf

The pay gap between female and male college graduates cannot be fully accounted for by factors known to affect wages, such as experience (including work hours), training, education, and personal characteristics. Gender pay discrimination can be overt or it can be subtle. It is difficult to document because someone’s gender is usually easily identified by name, voice, or appearance. The only way to discover discrimination is to eliminate the other possible explanations. In this analysis the portion of the pay gap that remains unexplained after all other factors are taken into account is 5 percent one year after graduation and 12 percent 10 years after graduation. These unexplained gaps are evidence of discrimination, which remains a serious problem for women in the work force.

One last observation. If women cost 30-50% less than men for a given job, why would any rational business hire men?