Economists' opinions on the Wage Gap. Tell me what you think of the article?

Question

Here is the site. Tell me what you think of it.
http://business.baylor.edu/Tom_Kelly/Gender%20Gap.htm
I'd also like to point out that when applying for a job you are basically selling your services to the company. Just like when a company sells you a product or a service. No one will buy a product at the most expensive store if the SAME product can be found somewhere else for cheaper. Same goes for employers and yourself.

What do YOU think about it?

Answer 1

The article you linked is a good discussion of the gap and I'd like to throw out one other factor in a complex situation.
As a single dad, I consistently over a 10 year period made about 80% of the wages of my profession/technical trade compatriots.

I chose not to work overtime, to use sick days and family leave days etc., in order to spend more times with my kids. In a dual parent situation usually the mom takes that role... that doesn't explain all the difference, but my situation showed me that my choice accounted for thousands lost but the benefit far outweighed that cost.

Until couples really raise children on an equal basis I don't think the gap will ever be overcome. The only other option would get into the business of somehow accounting for the value of home production and I think that is unlikely.

Peace

Answer 2

Some of the wage differential is due to the career choices women make and the fact that women devote more time to family than men but I think there are also other factors.
Their are studies showing that professional women with children do less well than childless women, but men with children do better then childless men. That children distract people from their work could explain the results for women but the results for men would indicate that there is also something else happening. Economics explains hiring decisions in terms of profit maximizing, assuming perfect information. But employers do not have perfect information, and their judgments about an employees worth is informed by preconceived ideas. How else would you explain the fact that tall men earn more that short men even if the job has no physical requirements, such as a computer programmer? To use your analogy, you may go the cheapest store to buy a product, but many people will buy the "name brand" not the cheaper store brand even though the product is identical.

Answer 3

well kind of agree with the article. when you make the statement woman out of college will make less then men. it would be true because there is a larger percentage that go into lower paying jobs. (teachers, social service work) but to make the statement that two people doing identical jobs that are hired at the same time and the woman should be paid less is wrong.

growing up in the 60's and 70's always believed that it would be unfair to say that a woman (or any person ) could walk into a company and make as much as a person that has been there 15 years is wrong. that as woman worked in the place there pay would match man. but that has not happened as much. and your point is valid as long as it treats every one the same.

Answer 4

Women are discriminated against, but not nearly to the extent that the article claims. Stastics can be made to say a variety of things and the truth is, women making .75 on the dollar compared to men is an old stastic. Controlling for variations in human capital and career choices, this gap shrinks from 0% (yes one study found zero) to 10%. Much of this is due to premarket discrimination (ie. parents raise girls differently than boys) and stastical discrimination. Unfortunately because of the propensity for women to take time off to rear children (not that there's anything wrong with that), their investments in human capital will theoretically be lower because it is not as worth while given their shorter time in the labor force. It is also true that women who plan to take timeout for children etc., will opt for jobs where the rate of technological change is not as great. This way their skills don't atrophy as much. This is why fields with relatively slow rates of change, like English, literature, etc. are dominated by women while fields like engineering and math are dominated primarily by men. Things are being done to close those gaps however, and it is only a matter of time until that happens.

Answer 5

i think of it is a solid article yet no be counted how nicely documented, provided, researched and defined, feminists will purely not settle for certainty because of the fact it fails to play into their "i'm lady-undesirable me" propaganda. Feminists will revert to an identical ploy that worked them besides as for others: 'tell a lie and save repeating it till it is going to become common as certainty'. no be counted what every physique says, no be counted if a family contributors run or publicly traded corporation will continually discriminate to guard it is base line. This discrimination is to hire human beings as fee effectively as conceivable, understanding that the greater they pay, the better high quality individual will respond and be conscious. If one desires "a physique" to do an earthly job, they won't pay them comparable to yet another who has accountability to supervise super sums of money or yet another who's to blame for secure practices or yet another whose life may be endangered of their place. till women in equivalent numbers do what adult adult males do, feminists would be forced to proceed the lie that girls are paid much less. think of approximately it, those are an identical feminists that call for women be paid to stay at living house.

Answer 6

I don't work, I'm RICH!