Wage Gap in Present Day

The wage gap in 2018 has lowered but not much in the past 15 years. There are many reasons for this. Many studies show that the wage gap is caused by occupational choices of women vs men. When you walk in to an engineering classroom you will almost 100% of the time see more men than women. Men are represent a larger market of higher paying jobs than women. Once you adjust all of the different variables the wage gap shrinks to almost 5 cents on the dollar. Researchers cannot figure out why this 5 cents still exist but do not believe that it is strictly caused by gender alone. It is clear that if women are not working in higher paying jobs than men then they will make less money. But women in the same jobs as their male counterparts are not making any less money than them based on their gender. Women tend to pick lower paying jobs. This isn't on purpose from the women but it happens. You see women going to school to be elementary school teachers and men going to school to be general contractors. This is a vague observation and not true in every single scenario but it is true none the less.

Wage gap within race

Among the four most common races of workers in the united states there is a wage gap. Asian workers make the most out of all of the races. White workers are second. Hispanic and black workers follow in the last two places struggling to find comparable wages. A lot of this is due to the every occurring racism towards lower viewed minority groups in todays world. Asian workers are always viewed as smarter than others with the white man being the average. Steryotpes are a common problem in the workplace for no good reason Black and Hispanics are looked down upon in the workforce and are statistically not payed the same for their work. Black and Hispanic workers struggle to get compensated for their time and work the same as a white man or an Asian man. In 2015 asian made on average $3 more an hour compared to their white counterparts. This gap increases even more when you look to the black and Hispanic workforce. White men made $6 more an hour than black men and $7 more an hour than Hispanic men. The gap on the womens side is smaller but it is still noticeably present. Asian women again made the most money per hour out of the 4 races pulling in $18 an hour compared to white women that made $17 an hour. Black women on made $13 an hour while Hispanic women made only $12 an hour for their work. These numbers show that even still in some cases that men make more than women but the numbers are not adjusted for outlaying factors. The gap in these numbers do look similar if you only look at people in the workforce that had a four year degree. Asian men still led the pack with $35 an hour which is $3 more an hour than white men. Hispanic men hedge out the black men in this case making $26 an hour while black men only making $25 an hour. Women workers are shown in this particular study to make slightly less than men but the reoccurring form stays the same among the races. Asian women are making on average $27 an hour with a 4 year college degree. White women come in second with $25 and hour. Black and Hispanic women are still last coming in respectively with $23 an hour and $22 an hour. Most of the numbers concerning a racial race gap are most commonly thought to be from one unmeasurable factor. Racial discrimination. 21% of black men have said that they have been discriminated against in the form of pay or promotions strictly based off of their race. 16% of Hispanic men feel the same way.

Wage gap shrink

We have seen the wage gap shrink over time and this can be attributed to different things. Since the equal pay act of 1963 women have consistently over time been paid closer to mens wages than what they were in the 1950s and 1940s. there is research done by NBER researchers Francine Blau and Lawerence Kahn shows that age and workforce explains 8% of this gender wage gap. 51% of the gap can also be explained by industry choices and occupational choices.

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