Tapsearch Com EditorOn the gender pay gap
June 20th 2007 00:25
Matthew Yglesias has had two recent posts about women making less than men. He stays away from the load-of-bull "women make 77 percent of what men do" hogwash -- women tend to give up more work when they have kids, and that explains most of the gap.
Yglesias looks at college-educated, 24-year-old white men and women and finds the gap persists. He links to another blog's post that purports to control for field of study, and the gap still persists.
Still not buying it.
For one, the other blog lumps together fields like "engineering, math, and sciences" and "health, vocational/technical, and other technical/professional fields." There are many majors in both of these fields, so it's incredibly possible that men and women simply choose different majors. Also, it doesn't control for the schools attended within those fields -- in the sciences, I would guess, men are more concentrated at the most prestigious schools.
The other thing is that, even if it's not due to kids, women often choose to make less, either to have jobs they like more or to perform a public service. Take Teach for America, a program that encourages top-tier graduates to spend two years teaching in public schools. 70 percent are women. It's possible men make more money because they value money more, not because even employers discriminate against women.
By Robert VerBruggen
Yglesias looks at college-educated, 24-year-old white men and women and finds the gap persists. He links to another blog's post that purports to control for field of study, and the gap still persists.
Still not buying it.
For one, the other blog lumps together fields like "engineering, math, and sciences" and "health, vocational/technical, and other technical/professional fields." There are many majors in both of these fields, so it's incredibly possible that men and women simply choose different majors. Also, it doesn't control for the schools attended within those fields -- in the sciences, I would guess, men are more concentrated at the most prestigious schools.
The other thing is that, even if it's not due to kids, women often choose to make less, either to have jobs they like more or to perform a public service. Take Teach for America, a program that encourages top-tier graduates to spend two years teaching in public schools. 70 percent are women. It's possible men make more money because they value money more, not because even employers discriminate against women.
By Robert VerBruggen
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