Tag: gender pay
Chart: Wage Inequality Has Dramatically Increased Over Past Three Decades

Chart: Wage Inequality Has Dramatically Increased Over Past Three Decades

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute, released Tuesday, highlights the increasingly prevalent and disparate effects of wage inequality. With a focus on same-gender wage gaps, the report demonstrates that income inequality affects all Americans, and reminds us that the implications and scope of the widening wage gap are not limited only to the poorest citizens.

The EPI notes that “since the late 1980s . . . the top has pulled away from everyone else.” As the nation’s wealthiest continued to make more money at the turn of the century, the wages of middle- and lower-class Americans remained relatively stagnant — effectively resulting in a decrease when adjusted to meet higher inflation rates — or increased at a rate slower than that by which the wages of the upper class grew.

According to the EPI, in 1979, the wages of those in the top 95th percentile were 2.2 times higher than the wages of the “typical worker,” or those considered “middle-wage earners,” at the 50th percentile. This “95/50 gap” applied to both men and women.

Over time, however, the disparity has widened.

As shown in the chart below, by 1999, men in the 95th percentile were making 2.7 times more than men in the 50th percentile. The same gap existed among women. Ten years later, in 2009, the wage gap among men had dramatically widened: The top earners were making 3.1 times more than middle-wage earners. The wage gap among women also grew wider, but not as dramatically. The top female earners made 2.8 times more than their middle-wage counterparts.

By 2013, the typical 95th percentile man’s wage was 3.3 times higher than the typical 50th percentile man’s. The same year, the typical 95th percentile woman’s wage was three times higher than the average 50th percentile woman’s wage.

The EPI’s most obvious finding is that inequality is increasing at a quicker pace among male earners than it is among female earners. But other concerns arise from the data. If men and women are disproportionately impacted by income inequality, can one assume that income inequality facilitates more general, societal inequality? Is it possible that the slower rate of income inequality experienced by women is a result of female earners making less than their male counterparts? The notion is alarming because it would prove a direct correlation between the gender pay gap, income inequality and the other forms of inequality that result directly from income inequality.

Today, the data at least prove one thing: The wage gap is widening, and both men and women are feeling it — including those who are in a better position than the nation’s lowest-wage earners.

“The enormous increase in inequality among both men and women over the last 35 years is a testament to the fact that skewed wage growth has become a core economic challenge of our time,” writes economist Heidi Shierholz in the EPI report.

High-wage inequality is, as Shierholz states, the “key wedge between a successful economy … and an unsuccessful economy,” and it is also one of the greatest threats to America’s middle class.

Photo: Brad_crooks via Flickr
Chart via Economic Policy Institute
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Gender Pay Takes Center Stage Among Democratic Female Candidates

Gender Pay Takes Center Stage Among Democratic Female Candidates

By Sheryl Jean, The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS — If you want to start a fight, talk about pay differences between women and men.

And then throw in politics just to spice things up.

That is what’s happening in Texas and across the country as equal pay takes center stage as mid-term elections heat up.

Texas Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wendy Davis recently rebuked her Republican rival, Attorney General Greg Abbott, for his opposition to legislation that would make it easier for workers to file a wage discrimination claim. State Sen. Davis sponsored the bill last year, but it was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry.

Davis is one of several Democratic women candidates nationally hoping to mobilize female voters, who are a critical voting bloc. Candidates — from Maryland gubernatorial hopeful Heather Mizeur to North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan — have voiced their commitment to fight for issues important to women, including equal pay, health care and domestic violence.

The numbers show that women working full time make less than men overall. In Texas, the annual median pay for women in 2012 was $35,453, or 79 percent of men’s $44,802 median pay, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Nationally, the pay ratio of women to men was 77 percent.

Those figures are for all workers in all types of jobs and exclude certain factors, such as education, occupation and the number of hours worked. Studies show the wage gap narrows after considering such factors, but it does not disappear, leading many to think there’s a real problem.

The greater fear is that the gap widens over time, meaning women have less earning power and save less for retirement.

The focus on paychecks comes as more women participate in the workforce and more women are the main breadwinners here and nationally.

The question is why pay parity has not been reached yet.

“I think there’s no one answer, which I guess is why it’s a controversial subject,” said Sandra Black, a professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin who has studied gender pay issues.

“Some people say the pay gap is not real,” said Catherine Hill, vice president of research for the American Association of University Women. “The pay gap is real; it’s just explained in different ways.”

Part of the pay gap can be explained by choices women make: Women are more likely to leave the workforce or work part time to become mothers and primary caregivers, ending up with less work experience.

Reports show the pay gap starts early and widens over time. Women working full time earned 82 percent of what men did just one year after graduating from college, according to a 2012 study by the American Association of University Women. Even after accounting for variations in choice of major, type of job and number of hours worked, 7 percent of the difference in women’s earnings to men’s could not be explained, Hill said.

Women also tend to work in lower-paying jobs, such as teachers, while men take higher-paying jobs in computer science and engineering.

The fact that a wage gap persists for women after accounting for differences has led some researchers to conclude that wage discrimination exists in the workplace.

“There’s evidence that discrimination exists, but that’s hard to prove,” UT’s Black said. “In most jobs, you can always say there’s something you’re not measuring.”

Bias is when two people who arguably are equally productive are paid differently, Black said. The issue is in trying to determine what is equal productivity, she said.

Some people may not be aware they have biases in the workplace, Hill said. For example, “people may think a woman is more likely to leave to have children, but men also may move for other reasons,” she said. “There’s no reason to expect that men will be better employees than women.”

Overall, women’s wages just aren’t rising fast enough to make a big enough difference.

Nationwide, women’s wages grew substantially from 1980 to 2000 due largely to increased education and more women in the workforce, while men’s wages were stagnant, according to a report by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Since then, women’s wages have not continued to grow.

Photo: Alan Kotok via Flickr