Sunday, November 12, 2006

The 24 cent Wage Gap

Women earn 76 cents for every dollar a man makes? What exactly does that mean? This Money Magazine/CNN article gives some welcome insight into that overquoted factoid.

To the average person, that ratio gives the false impression that any woman working is at risk of being paid 24 cents less per dollar than a man in the same position.

But all the wage-gap ratio reflects is a comparison of the median earnings of all working women and men who log at least 35 hours a week on the job, any job. That's it.

It doesn't compare those with equal work, equal training, equal education or equal tenure. Nor does it take into account the hours of overtime worked.


The article does state, however, that somewhere between 10-33% of the wage gap comes from discrimination, meaning outright discrimination accounts for only 2-and-a-half to 8 cents for a dollar. Not right or fair, but it's not 24 cents, either.
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:32 PM

    What's your favorite Indian tribe?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Darren3:46 PM

    Try as I might, I can't determine what that question has to do with this post. But since you ask: I have no "favorite" Indian tribe.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous4:49 PM

    Ok fine. If you HAD to join one Indian tribe, which one would it be?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Darren5:20 PM

    I'd consider answering that, but since it has nothing to do with the wage gap between the sexes, I won't do so here. In fact, only comments relating to said wage gap will be posted here from now on.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous6:07 PM

    I read that and all I think is: Yes! Economic proof that men are better than women!


    Haha! hah..ha...K, I'm done now.
    [Waits for the feminists to bash on me]

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous10:46 PM

    Does the study take into account time taken off by women to give birth/raise children? A few years off could easily put a woman of the same age several years behind her male co-workers, thereby creating a perceived statistical gap in earnings.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11:38 AM

    Clearly, if women want to close the wage gap, they need to stop having babies. Child-bearing puts one at an economic disadvantage. Just look at what happens to *men* who give birth. Oh, wait.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous12:02 PM

    This has been stated over and over again, but it will go nowhere, for the simple reason the feminist in the article stated: "It's a useful statistic." Well no, it's a MISLEADING statistic, but yes, it's useful to her agenda.

    ReplyDelete