'Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics: The Wage Gap'

Submitted by anthony on Mon, 2009-09-28 19:08

Article here. Excerpt:

'Now we turn from the mostly meaningless college gap to the mostly nonexistent wage gap. It is quoted ad-nauseum that women make 75 cents for each dollar a man makes for the exact same work (it used to be 59 cents, now it ranges from 75 to 80). In response to this, Nancy Pelosi helped push through congress the Fair Pay Act. Furthermore, April 20th, 2010 not only represents a day we should all get stoned out of our gourds, it’s “Equal Pay Day.” This holiday (of sorts) symbolizes how far into 2010 a woman would have to work to make what a man makes in 2009 alone. Obviously this is a sign of discrimination; as Jessica Valenti, founder of Feministing.com, states rather bluntly, “the wage gap is like a big f*ck you to women.”

Unfortunately (for Jessica, fortunately for every other woman in the country), even a faint knowledge of business or economics should immediately raise a degree of skepticism about this dubious claim...
...
The truth is that businesspeople discriminate in favor of the color green; money. Market economies discriminate mightily against those who discriminate. If it were true that men make approximately 33% more for the same work, companies that predominantly hired women would crush companies that predominantly hired men. Ask any business owner what would happen if he or she could decrease his or her labor expenses 25% and he or she would tell you he or she would soon be hiring his or her competitor’s employees (as his or her competitor’s employees would be unemployed, because his or her competitors got crushed).'

Like0 Dislike0

Comments

Table A-7. Fatal occupational injuries by worker
characteristics and event or exposure, All United States, 2008

Worker Characteristics # Fatalities

Employee Status
Wage and Salary Workers.......4,071
Self-employed......................1,000
Employee Gender
Men....................................4,703
Women..................................368
Employee Age
Under 16 years.........................11
16 to 17 years..........................23
18 to 19 years..........................63
20 to 24 years.........................339
25 to 34 years.........................840
35 to 44 years.......................1,084
45 to 54 years.......................1,257
55 to 64 years.........................887
65 years and over.....................559
Employee Race or Ethnic Origin
White, non-Hispanic.................3,560
Black, non-Hispanic....................514
Hispanic or Latino......................774
American Indian or Alaska Native....30
Asian.......................................131
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander...6

1 Based on the BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification Manual
2 Includes highway, non-highway, air, water, rail fatalities, and fatalities resulting from being struck by a vehicle.
3 Includes violence by persons, self-inflicted injury, and attacks by animals.
4 May include volunteers and workers receiving other types of compensation.
5 Includes self-employed workers, owners of unincorporated businesses and farms, paid and unpaid family workers, and may include some owners of incorporated businesses or members of partnerships.
6 Persons identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. The race categories shown exclude data for Hispanics and Latinos.

NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. Data for 2008 are preliminary.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with State and Federal agencies, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cftb0238.pdf

Let's take just a moment and review this detail (I know, DAMN those nuisance details!!): Employee Fatalities by Gender (so oft left completely out of any discussion of workplace parity) Men @ 4,703 vs Women @ 368 ie for every woman killed in a workplace mishap, 12.7 men are killed.

Men @ 4,703
Women @ 368

12 times as many men are killed in workplace mishaps as are women.

Gunner Retired
Falsely Accused Father and Disenfranchised Parent
Georgia Fathers 4 Justice Coordinator
NPRA Research Consultant
FCRA Archivist & Armorer
AFRA & BHS Armorer

and KITTENS DADDY!

Like0 Dislike0
Submitted by Gunner Retired on Mon, 2009-10-05 08:39