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One could say the same thing about studies that purport to show a huge market-gravity-defying wage/gender gap.* * it's only important because our President is
by jquery 17y ago
One could say the same thing about studies that purport to show a huge market-gravity-defying wage/gender gap.*
* it's only important because our President is in favor of establishing a government organization to determine "fair" pay.
- krschultz 17y agoWell it is a fact that there is a wage gap in the US if you look at the overall average of men and women. Rarely if you look at a man and a woman in the same job is there a huge pay gap. Those are two different things and the latter was what people used to complain about, the former is what people complain about today. But there are lots of reasons why this is the case. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/women-earn-less-than-men-but-gap-is-narrowing-2010-04-20 http://www.marketwatch.com/story/women-earn-less-than-men-bu... None of those reasons have to do with productivity.
- jquery 17y agoIf women really are a discount, why hire a man at all? That is the question I have never seen answered convincingly.
- krschultz 17y agoI'm agreeing with you, I don't think the wage gap (today) is talking about two equally qualified people getting paid different amounts for the same job, although it does happen in some rare circumstances it doesn't account for a 20% difference. That is mostly related to personal decisions on what career to choose, work/life balance, etc.
- MichaelSalib 17y agoMaybe women have to settle for less because employers consistently underrate their competence. Since most employers want competent people, if they irrationally believe that women are less competent, they will be less likely to hire women, even at a discount. In general, statements of the form "but that's impossible since all people act as rational utility maximizing agents" demonstrate an ignorance of the many many studies showing that people do not act completely rationally pretty much all the time.