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September 05, 2005
The Pay and Gender Gap.
The difference between male and female pay is prima facie evidence of discrimination, is it not?
Umm, no.
After years of research, I discovered 25 differences in the work-life choices of men and women. All 25 lead to men earning more money, but to women having better lives.
High pay, as it turns out, is about tradeoffs. Men's tradeoffs include working more hours (women work more around the home); taking more dangerous, dirtier and outdoor jobs (garbage collecting, construction, trucking); relocating and traveling; and training for technical jobs with less people contact (like engineering).
Is the pay gap, then, about the different choices of men and women? Not quite. It's about parents' choices. Women who have never been married and are childless earn 117 percent of their childless male counterparts. (This comparison controls for education, hours worked and age.) Their decisions are more like married men's, and never-married men's decisions are more like women's in general (careers in arts, no weekend work, etc.)
Read the rest of it. He really puts the nails in that coffin of an argument.
September 5, 2005 in Economics | Permalink
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Comments
Very good article - doesn't quite answer the question I asked back in March - Are girls made aware of the financial consequences of the choices they make, and are they being discouraged from taking them into account?
The point about unmarried women vs unmarried men is interesting, but we don't know to what extent that's a selection effect.
Posted by: Andrew McGuinness | Sep 5, 2005 10:14:39 AM
Surely a married man's decisions are actually those of his wife.
Ducks.
Looks furtively over shoulder.
"I'll be right there, dear".
Posted by: Gorse Fox | Sep 5, 2005 10:42:06 AM
A gender split of career options and choices goes way back to subject choice in secondary school. Look at Figure 3.4M on Page 60 of this document: http://www.futureskillsscotland.org.uk/uploadedreports/Scottish_Labour_Market_2002.pdf
There's a real split across subject choice at secondary school - this continues into higher education and beyond!
Posted by: Angry Economist | Sep 5, 2005 11:57:17 AM
Oops - that report is here:
http://www.futureskillsscotland.org.uk/uploadedreports/Scottish_Labour_Market_2002.pdf
Posted by: Angry Economist | Sep 5, 2005 11:59:22 AM
I remember in an undergraduate econ class where a female classmate was challenging the instructor on this point.The instructor's comment was,"If a corporation can get an equally qualified female for 70% of a male's pay scale and if corporations exist to make money,why would they ever hire a male emplyee?"
Posted by: Colin | Sep 5, 2005 10:45:05 PM
What a load of old cobblers. Tim is some kind of cyber freak who sits with his economist year book and copy of the guardian and writes shit trying to pass off as expertise.
Posted by: Alan Trister | Nov 22, 2006 4:17:22 PM
