The gender pay gap is back in the news – and may become a major issue in the presidential campaign. It seems an open-and-shut case of job discrimination. Women earn only 79% of men’s average hourly earnings. Who could favor that?
Actually, the comparison is bogus. A more accurate ratio, after adjusting for differences in gender employment patterns, is closer to 92%. Even the remaining gap of eight percentage points may not stem fully from discrimination.
What’s worth recalling (especially for anyone under 40) is that the flood tide of women into the labor force represents one of the great social and economic upheavals of the post-World War II era. In the early postwar years, gender roles were stark. Once women married, they stayed home and took care of the kids. In 1947, women’s labor force participation rate was 32%. Female college graduates were a tiny minority, and few women were doctors, lawyers, accountants, newspaper reporters, police officers or business managers.
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