Discussion Question

Please read and reply in 1-2 pargraphs 

One new idea that impacts me the most based on our reading this week would be equal pay. The earning gap between men and women is still a widely discussed topic. We know according to Miller’s  reading “(Why) Are Women Paid Less?”  that nearly 60 percent of women are in the paid workforce and comprise roughly half of starting work each year. When reviewing nation wide data, such as U.S Census Bureau or the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are unexplained differences between the pay of men and women that persists. Men with the same measured individual characteristics are paid at least 10 percent more than women, and some studies find a difference twice that size. This really “hits home” per say, because I often find myself experienced in areas where my boss comes to me to fix certain technology situations or manage programs that he has no experience or knowledge in, where as if I weren’t in the position that I am, they would struggle and the convenience of troubleshooting the task or managing the specific program would be difficult. I am often reminded that I got this job based on my technology skills. I do try to keep an open mind as to being thankful for my position and reminding myself that it is great job security, but when asked as to when I may receive a pay raise based on my knowledge and experience, I am quickly reminded to just to be patience, it will come. This is difficult because while I work a state job getting paid once a month, I have a family of 5 where my husband is a timber cutter and we live off of his paycheck each week. Needless to say we budget and cut a lot of corners. Due to circumstances, this does encourage me to further my education and challenge myself to work hard and gain the pay that I well deserve.

This also brings up an interesting fact in our reading by Miller where women’s pay is also held down by two other elements of their occupational choices. First, they tend to work in industries that are much less subject to job losses and unemployment than are men. For example, in the latest recession, 6 million men lost their jobs but only 2.7 million women did so and the unemployment rate among women is consistently below that of men. An implicit component of compensation for women is job security. Second, women tend to select college majors such as sociology, psychology, and education that feed into lower paying occupations. Which in this case is very hard to continue to be analytical because I work amongst men and women who are educated but pay is a major difference. The extent of gender discrimination in the workplace is unlikely to be definitely settled anytime soon. Measured earnings differences, even those that account for experience, education, and other factors clearly overstate the true pay gap between equally qualified men and women.

Works cited

Miller, R. L., Benjamin, D. K., & North, D. C. (2015). The economics of public issues(19th ed.). Boston: Pearson.