RE-EXAMINING THE PAY GAP

Posted by: Cathy Arnst on January 17

Several months ago on this blog I set off a bit of a firestorm when I wrote about the persistent lag in pay of working women compared with men. Well, some of my critics are half right. I see on the blog Consider the Evidence, by sociology professor Lane Kenworthy, that the gender pay gap has been shrinking fairly steadily since the 1980s. Ah,but don’t gloat yet, mine critics. It’s not so much because women’s earnings have been rising faster than men’s; rather men’s earnings have been flat. They haven’t budged in a generation. As Lakewood notes:

There’s no reason to presume a causal relationship between the two; it isn’t likely that men’s earnings have been stagnant because women’s have been rising. After all, prior to the mid-1970s both were increasing.

In fact, women’s pay gains have also slowed, though not as much as men. The average rate of growth of women’s median earnings during 1960-73 was 2.2% per year, while for 1980-2006 it was 0.9% per year.

Seems working men and women can agree on one thing—we all have something to complain about.

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