1 / 15

Discrimination and Male-Female Earnings Differential

Discrimination and Male-Female Earnings Differential. Chapter 12 Benjamin, Gunderson and Riddell. Main Questions. How can otherwise equally productive men and women be paid different wages in a competitive labour market?

lev-abbott
Download Presentation

Discrimination and Male-Female Earnings Differential

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Discrimination and Male-FemaleEarnings Differential Chapter 12 Benjamin, Gunderson and Riddell

  2. Main Questions • How can otherwise equally productive men and women be paid different wages in a competitive labour market? • What Methods are used to measure the extent of discrimination in the labour market? • How much discrimination exists in the Canadian labour market? 11/17/99 Economics 340 2

  3. Main Questions (cont’d) • Is there evidence of discrimination against other groups? • What policies have been adopted to address the effects of discrimination? Which policies have been effective? 11/17/99 Economics 340 3

  4. Overview • There is some debate as to whether discrimination is an economic or a social phenomenon. • Discrimination can occur in other markets besides the labour market. • We will look at gender discrimination but the principles can apply to other forms of discrimination as well. 11/17/99 Economics 340 4

  5. Reasons for Discrimination • Discrimination may occur against females because males have a preference for buying from or working with other males. • It may also occur due to erroneous information about the productivity of females. • Males may also discriminate for reasons of job security. 11/17/99 Economics 340 5

  6. Sources of Discrimination • Employers may discriminate against females through hiring or wage rate practices. • Co-workers may discriminate against females by not giving them the co-operation that all workers need. • Customers may discriminate against females by not buying from them. 11/17/99 Economics 340 6

  7. Theories of Labour Market Discrimination • Demand theories say lower demand for female labour reduces wages. • Supply theories say discrimination is based on the supply of female labour either in crowding or dual labour markets. • Non-competitive theories include such things as imperfect information, queuing theories and deliberate discrimination. 11/17/99 Economics 340 7

  8. Productivity Differences • Much of the perceived differences in productivity can be the result of systemic discrimination. • Traditional roles give females more responsibility for household duties. • One important thing to remember is that discrimination judges individuals by group actions. 11/17/99 Economics 340 8

  9. Feminist Perspectives • There is a feminist perspective (not necessarily shared by all feminists) which blames the general theories of economics for the male bias. • Male domination in economics and the non-personal methods used in economics lead to the stereotyping of females. 11/17/99 Economics 340 9

  10. Evidence on Male-Female Earnings Differentials • Females tend to earn 60 to 65% of male wages, on average. • This is closer to 70% for full time full year workers and the gap has been slowly closing since the 1960s. • Youth and education will increase the percentage for females. 11/17/99 Economics 340 10

  11. Empirical Results on Male-Female Differentials • There is a portion of the wage rate differential which can be explained by nothing other than wage rate discrimination. • Discrimination may be largely due to factors outside of the labour market (systemic discrimination). • Uneven distribution between occupations is the largest labour market factor. 11/17/99 Economics 340 11

  12. Conventional Equal Pay Legislation • Equal pay for the same job within the same company. • This is a “motherhood statement” and is necessary though not very effective. • It only applies to the most blatant of discriminators within a single company. • Employers define the jobs for all employees. 11/17/99 Economics 340 12

  13. Pay Equity • Employers must have equal pay for work of equal value. • This is still within the same employer and it is the employer who has a large say as to the value of employment. • This is very difficult to enforce as being witnessed by the federal public service settlement. 11/17/99 Economics 340 13

  14. Equal Employment Opportunity • This means that employers must objectively consider all applicants for employment. • Once again this is a motherhood statement and can only be effective against the most blatant discriminators. • It is often used as a “ad” to promote the employer, i.e. “We are an equal opportunity employer.” 11/17/99 Economics 340 14

  15. Employment Equity • This is a controversial policy which is often referred to as “reverse discrimination”. • This must be performed over a relatively long period of time so the employer is not forced to accept unqualified employees. • One of the real dangers with this type of policy is that the employer may perpetuate discrimination by hiring someone who will not succeed. 11/17/99 Economics 340 15

More Related