The Wage Gap: fact, fiction, or a bit of both
By Ryan Heffes
The gender pay gap has been a hot topic in recent national discussion, but what do the numbers really say about this "79 cents to the dollar" statistic?
In recent history, the gender wage gap has quite often been used to show inequality in pay for the same work between men and women in the workplace; however, there is much debate as to what this gap really means. The most common statistic advertised to express the gender wage disparity in the United States is that women earn 79 cents to the dollar that men earn for the same work. Although this number represents the difference in median income of the two genders, it doesn’t tell the whole story.
This number has even been recognized by former president Barack Obama through the National Equal Pay Day, a day meant to recognize women for their efforts and to work towards reaching, “a day in which all women are paid equally for their work”. However, what many people, such as economist Mark J. Perry, creator and editor of the well known economics blog Carpe Diem, don’t understand is why there was a 10.75 percent gender pay gap between male and female staff members at the White House under the Obama administration while the pay gap in the DC area is only four percent according to the United States Department Department of Labor. Obama, a man who has advocated for equal pay for women and constantly states that both gender and race discrimination is the cause for such disparities, did not even pay his own employees equally.
Work towards reaching, “a day in which all women are paid equally for their work”
Former President Barrack Obama signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, Photo courtesy of Joyce N. Boghosian.
The problem with the previous figures, including the 79 cents to the dollar number, is that they are only correct in the most broad sense. This number, which has grown to 80 cents to the dollar as of 2017, is calculated after taking the median earnings from American men and women and comparing these numbers. However, this doesn’t take into account experience, career path, and many other factors. In 2016, a study at Cornell University by Francine D. Blau and Lawrence M. Kahn concluded that around 48 percent of the wage gap is due to a variety of factors within the women’s control, such as occupation choice and industry. Another 14 percent of the gap was attributed to experience. However, this same study also concluded that 38 percent of the gap is “unexplained” and could be because of discrimination. This 38 percent margin leaves an 8 cent to the dollar gap, far less than the 21 cents to the dollar gap that is widely advertised.
The majority of the gender pay activists tend to lean towards the political left.
Whether the broad, or the more specific figure is used to represent the wage gap, there will always be arguments from every side of the political spectrum to its significance. The Obama example is valuable ammunition for people arguing against the severity of the wage gap. Gender pay activists are quick to dismiss the White House pay gap, as they claim that the disparity is somehow different than gaps in other industries. However, similar treatment isn’t given to regular businesses that are accused of having a large pay gap when similar reasons for the White House gap exist for them. One reason for this is that, as explained by Ashe Schow, political columnist for the New York Observer, the majority of the gender pay activists tend to lean towards the political left. On the other hand, the median income for minority women in comparison to white men shows a significant gap: 35 cents for black women and 42 cents for hispanic women. Even when taking into account the same factors used to combat the 79 cents to the dollar wage gap, the minority wage gap is still greater than the gap between white women and white men. Institutionalized racism has been used to express this disparity; however no real progress has been made in the debate to either truly show that this racism exists, or that it doesn’t either.
The existence of a gender wage gap has been widely debated in Western society. Photo courtesy of Mike Licht.
The gender pay gap is as much as an experience issue as it is a supposed discrimination issue. According to Louise Eccles of Daily Mail, as of late 2014, women working full time are actually earning more, by a negligible amount, than their male counterparts until they turn around 40 years old. Although this stat seems shocking, it really isn’t. Logically, if men could hire a woman for 21 cents to the dollar less than a man they would hire the woman every time, something that is happening with illegal immigrants at lower paying jobs. Age 40 and older is where the problems arise. When women working full time reach 40 years old, they drop to earning around 14 percent less than their male colleagues, a stat that continues to rise until eventual retirement.
The main reason for this is that at this age many of the high level, high paying, corporate jobs are taken by men. This can be attributed to many females leaving the workplace to raise a family, the fact that they are starting families later in life, and historically it has been much harder for women to reach the top in a corporate environment. In this regard, one counter argument made is that women shouldn’t have to be the ones starting families and that males should work to raise children as well. However, statistics show that this is a trend that is slowly going out of fashion. In 2014, 16 percent of the United States stay at home parent population consisted of stay at home dads, a number that has continued to rise. As more dads become stay at home parents and allow the mothers to go out into the workplace, the more this gap will continue to close.
Historically it has been much harder for women to reach the top in the corporte environment.
Many people who argue that the wage gap doesn’t exist discredit the gap using evidence from studies like the Cornell study; however, this still leaves around a 7 cent gap between men and women even after all the factors are taken into place. This is still a gap, even though it is far less of a gap than is being advertised by many of the women’s rights movements. It even extends above the 7 cent gap for minorities and really does show that there is some sort of gap that has to be solved in today’s society.
Many other problems persist, as the new number, which measures men and women working full time jobs, has a potential to still show an inequality in hours worked between the genders. Full time work constitutes 35 hours a week; however, men on average work longer hours so the gap could be counting men working 40 hours and women working 35 hours as equals in terms of hours worked.
This still leaves around a 7 cent gap between men and women
Regardless of the the statistics showing that the wage gap really settles in at around a 93 cents to the dollar figure, people from both sides of the argument have their own opinions on whether or not the stats mean anything. There will be people out there saying that the wage gap doesn’t exist, as well as people stating numbers much greater than a 7 cent gap; however, it is up to the reader to gather their own opinions based on these stats to figure out what is right.
It is up to the reader to gather their own opinions based on these stats to figure out what is right.
The Charger, March 2017
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