On Sunday the Los Angeles Times published a graphic showing “women earned 80¢ for every dollar men made.” The editorial, written by Swati Pandey, pretends to offer balance by quoting ’skeptics’ saying that the cause is that “men take higher-paying jobs in math, science, or fields that pose daily physical danger.” They then attack that contention by citing Bureau of Labor Statistics figures showing that the wage gap exists even within the same fields. QED.

Among the professions where these disparities are supposed to exist are elementary school teachers, where the female average pay is 85% of the male; lawyers (73%); and bus drivers (75%).

These figures can be both accurate and completely unsupportive of the conclusion “women earn less than men even when performing the same job.” These are averages: all male lawyer income divided by the number of male lawyers, etc. They do not take into account years spent working; the “same job” element at the very heart of the unequal pay claim is missing. Does anyone really believe that gender affects pay for heavily unionized elementary school teachers or bus drivers? Pay in those occupations is strictly a function of seniority. The same is true of law — associates are compensated based on years since law school. Partners are compensated differently, but according to a formula agreed to by the partnership. Attorney compensation by firm and seniority is semi-public and a topic of constant discussion in the profession. Would any firm risk the black eye it would get if it discriminated in pay? The claim simply fails the test of common sense.

So how can the numbers be right? If female teachers, lawyers, and bus drivers take time off to have and raise kids, on average the group will always have less years working than males, and will be paid less. If a forty-five year old female teacher has worked for fifteen years while a forty-five year old male colleague has worked twenty-three, she will be paid less. If older female attorneys are more likely to choose a non-partner track that does not demand eighty hour weeks, they will be paid less. If female bus drivers work only local routes to be near home while men take longer, overnight runs, they will be paid less.

So the real difference between the sexes is that women are more likely to make these choices than men — not that they are paid differently for exactly the same work. Whether they should have to make those choices is valid ground for debate — but the ‘unequal pay’ myth is a irrelevant sideshow.

PS The editorial has a sidebar with an excerpt from Warren Farrell’s “Why Men Earn More;” a more balanced overview is in the Publisher’s Weekly review here at Amazon.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 23rd, 2005 at 5:36 am by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable, Los Angeles Times, Media, Politically Correct ... and stupid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.