Equal Pay Day

Yesterday was "Equal Pay Day". The premise of this day is that it "symbolizes how far into the year the average women must work (in addition to their earnings last year) in order to have earned what the average man had earned the entire previous year, regardless of experience or job type."

They have also broken this down by race as well, with Latinas coming in last (as far as I could find) with their "equal pay day" coming in November 20.

Now, all of you who are paying attention, will wonder one thing and notice another.

What you should be wondering is "How is this happening, since the Equal Pay Act of 1963 is still law?"

What you should notice is "regardless of experience or job type."

The Equal Pay Act of 1963 states:

"SEC. 206. [Section 6]

(d) Prohibition of sex discrimination

(1) No employer having employees subject to any provisions of this section shall discriminate, within any establishment in which such employees are employed, between employees on the basis of sex by paying wages to employees in such establishment at a rate less than the rate at which he pays wages to employees of the opposite sex in such establishment for equal work on jobs the performance of which requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and which are performed under similar working conditions, except where such payment is made pursuant to (i) a seniority system; (ii) a merit system; (iii) a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production; or (iv) a differential based on any other factor other than sex: Provided, That an employer who is paying a wage rate differential in violation of this subsection shall not, in order to comply with the provisions of this subsection, reduce the wage rate of any employee."

In other words, if job requires "equal skill, effort and responsibility" and is "performed under similar working conditions", except in very specific circumstances, men and women must be paid the same.

This is where the thing you wondered and the thing you noticed come together.

So, how do they figure out the "pay gap"?

"The gender pay gap figure is typically calculated by first adding together all of the annual salaries of women who are working full-time, year-round, then finding the median salary — that is, the salary that's in the exact middle, with 50 percent of the women earning more than that figure and 50 percent earning less. Then the same calculation is made for men working full-time, year-round. Once those two figures are determined, you can compare them and calculate the pay gap"

What are things that they don't consider? Experience. Hours worked (beyond the designation of "full time"). Type of job. Job conditions. Time job is performed. Skills required to perform the job. Effort required for the job. Responsibility required of the job. Risk of death at job. Location of job. Different job and career choices.

So, how is it that women "make less than men"? Go back and read the last paragraph for the answer.

This comparison compares men as a whole against women as a whole. What it doesn't do is compare a specific fast-food worker with another specific fast-food worker (both with the same experience, education, hours worked, location, etc.) and find a difference.

Stated differently, if there is an open position at the local fast-food restaurant, the owner doesn't sit down and decide that she's going to pay a man $12/hour, but a woman only $11/hour. That owner is going to pay whoever she hires $12/hour, whether male or female. She can't discriminate based on the EPA of 1963. If she did, she could be punished.

But, if she hires a female manager, who makes $20/hour and works 55 hours a week (making $57,200/year), and 4 female supervisors, who make $18/hour and work 45 hours a week (making $42,120/year), and 10 male cook/cashiers, who make $12 / hour and work 40 hours a week (making $24,960/year), the wage gap would be explained as follows: Median for women: $42,120/year. Median for men: $24,960/year. Wage gap against men: $17,160.

(If you're wondering why the median for women isn't $45,136, you need to review the difference between median and average.)

According to this example, men would have to work an additional 35.75 weeks to make what women make in just one year at this restaurant, if you use the language used for "Equal Pay Day".

Does this sound like a good way to do a comparison? It doesn't take into account responsibility, hours worked, skills required, etc.

In fact, I would argue, this is one of the worst ways to do a comparison.

I don't have anything against comparisons based on gender, but I do have a problem with poorly done comparisons.

I 100% agree with the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and support it fully. Men and women shouldn't be paid a different rate or amount for the same job that requires the same skill, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions.

It is critical that you understand, however, that the Equal Pay Day isn't talking about that at all.