On “closing the gender wage gap”: no, it won’t “pull half of working single moms out of poverty”

Last updated on: April 14, 2015 at 11:20 am by Jane the Actuary

On “closing the gender wage gap”: no, it won’t “pull half of working single moms out of poverty” 2015-04-14T11:20:11-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Here’s a piece that appeared in the Wonkblog at the Washington Post last week, “Closing the gender wage gap could pull half of working single moms out of poverty.”

My first reaction: bad math.

Some time ago, I had played around with census figures, and learned that, at the lower end of the pay scale, women’s earnings are much closer to men’s than at the top.

Here’s my table:

Women’s pay as % of men’s, 2013
1st decile 0.899
1st quartile 0.880
median 0.821
3rd quartile 0.781
9th decile 0.758

Hence, the finding that the Post touted, that

The country’s number of working single mothers who live in poverty would drop from about 30 percent to 15 percent, researchers estimate, if they earned on average as much as comparably skilled men.

seemed pretty suspect. If low-earning women earned as much as low-earning men, the needle would move some, but it’s not possible for it to make that dramatic a difference unless vast numbers of single moms were just a smidge below the poverty line and only small increases were required to bump them up.

What’s more, the source they site, a link to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, provides no additional information, just the same graph as the WaPo reproduces, with no source data or methodology. So I thought I was at a dead end, until today, in the Chicago Tribune, the same article was reprinted and I saw something I hadn’t seen before:

But jobs more often held by female workers without college degrees (child care, retail, administrative work) tend to pay much less than roles dominated by men with the same level of education (plumbing, electricity, contract work).

If the study’s methodology was indeed to compare pay rates of female-dominated no-college-degree-required jobs to pay rates for male-dominated no-college-degree jobs, well, then, their results are explainable, but meaningless. Plumbers and electricians are skilled trades which require, though not a college degree, a significant degree of training via an apprenticeship. I’m not sure what “contract work” means, but perhaps this is construction work? And, in contrast, retail work requires no specialized skills, child care may only require a class or two in child development, and secretarial work varies greatly in the level of training and experience required. (My employer wants its “admins” to be college educated, but expects them to do more than just typing and pays them accordingly — they, not the actuaries, are responsible for ensuring that everything that goes to a client follows the prescribed format, even including color scheme.)

I’m not even going to address the issue that male-dominated jobs require a lot more physical work, and often are riskier as well. Let’s just file this one, instead, under “Higher Education Bubble” by observing that the study’s author and/or the Post simply treated all non-college-degree jobs as equivalent, without acknowledging the real skill involved in many of these occupations, and then seemingly made the leap to “on average, they should all pay the same.”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 14, 2015

Who Supports Hillary?

Next Post

April 15, 2015 "The [working] poor you will always have with you": more on minimum and "living" wages

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does "Hosanna" mean in Hebrew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Praise be to God Holy One The Lord reigns Save us now