Pay Differences Between Women's and Men's Jobs: The Empirical Foundations of Comparable Worth Legislation / George E. Johnson, Gary Solon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnson, George E.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Solon, Gary.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w1472.

NBER working paper series no. w1472

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Pay Differences Between Women's and Men's Jobs

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1984.

Summary:

Civil rights legislation of the 1960s made it illegal foran employer to pay men and women on different bases for the same work or to discriminate against women in hiring, job assignment, or promotion. Two decades later, however, the ratio of women's to men's earnings has shown little upward movement. Furthermore, major sex differences in occupational distribution persist with predominantly female jobs typically paying less than predominantly male jobs. This negative relationship between wage rates and femaleness of occupatiop has stimulated efforts, in both the judicial and political arenas, to establish "comparable worth" procedures for setting wage rates.This paper etimates the relationship between wages and femaleness of occupation and finds that it is indeed negative even after controlling for relevant worker and job characteristics. The magnitude of the relationship, however, implies a surprisingly small effect for a comprehensive comparable worth policy. The estimates indicate that, even if comparable worth succeeded in eliminating this negative relationship, the disparity between mean male and female wages would be reduced by well under ten percent of its current magnitude.

Notes:

Print version record

September 1984.