Equal Pay Day and Hillary Clinton

Last week, on Equal Pay Day, Hillary Clinton trotted out her consistently false claim that women only make 77 cents on the dollar when compared to men.  Seriously?  Does anyone really think that employers across this nation are underpaying women by 23% and, by doing so, are in direct violation of the federal law entitled the Equal Pay Act of 1963? And, further, those employers are doing it right under the noses of the very federal agency, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is tasked with insuring that pay discrimination doesn't exist on the basis gender, race, age, or religion. If pay discrimination by sex was so prevalent in this nation, why is it that the EEOC only litigated 26,396 sex discrimination cases last year, of which, only 29.5% were charged as violations of the law.  By Hillary's way of thinking, there should have been millions of cases, with most of them found guilty of discrimination; not just 29.5%.

Here's the truth.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its latest annual report for 2014 titled Highlights of Women's Earnings, women made an average of 83 cents on the dollar when compared to men; up from 82 cents and 81 cents in 2013 and 2012, respectively.  So, one has to wonder where Hillary got the 77 cents number which she has been repeating for years. Now, you have to understand that this number is an aggregate total of women's wages across all professions that women work in, compared to the aggregate total of wages across all the professions that men work in.

The simple truth is that men gravitate to higher paying jobs while women gravitate towards lower paying jobs.  For example, the Women's Bureau of the Department of Labor, reports that, of the leading 20 jobs held by women, 96% of secretaries are women.  Additionally, women hold 84% of clerk positions; 95% of childcare workers;  71% of waiter/waitresses; and 89% of maids and housekeepers.  On the other hand, women only make up 12% to 39% of high paying jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; otherwise known as STEM jobs.  Just 36% of women hold a Master of Business Administration (MBA).  A graduate degree that is both highly prized by businesses and well compensated.

Also, there are additional factors that can lower a woman's pay.  For example, women who leave the workforce to raise a family, and then, years later return, will see their pay lowered.  This is why on Table 1 of the "Highlights" report (linked below) and before age 35, women earn 91 cents compared to men.  After 35, the number drops to 81 cents.  But, for women "Never Married", the comparative number is high at 94 cents.  This is also why nearly 80% of part time workers are women, enabling them to  still take care of their families while earning additional wages.  Women also work 52 minutes less per workday than men, and for hourly workers, this represents a 12% drop in average incomes.

The issue here is that Hillary wants women to think they are all victims and, as such, she would be the perfect candidate to take on wage discrimination.  But, unless Hillary can force women to work more hours, seek higher degrees, higher paying jobs, and stop raising families, zero income inequality isn't going to happen.  So, women!  Don't look at the guy working right next to you and think he's making 23% more than you are.  It's a just a political lie!

References:

2016: Equal Pay Day: Hillary Clinton praises members of US women’s football team who are suing for equal pay: A woman in the US earns 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes, on broad average, and women of ethnic minorities earn much less:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-elections/equal-pay-day-hillary-clinton-praises-megan-rapinoe-women-football-players-suing-for-equal-pay-a6981046.html

2007: Last month, Sen. Hillary Clinton expressed consternation that women continue to make "just 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes": http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/02/AR2007040201262.html

Equal Pay Act of 1963 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Pay_Act_of_1963

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Employment_Opportunity_Commission

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: https://www.eeoc.gov/

Enforcement & Litigation Statistics: https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/charges.cfm

Women's Bureau: 20 Leading Occupations of Employed Women 2010 Annual Averages (employment in thousands): http://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/20lead2010_txt.htm

Highlights of women’s earnings in 2014: http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/womens-earnings/archive/highlights-of-womens-earnings-in-2014.pdf

Time spent working by full- and part-time status, gender, and location in 2014: http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/time-spent-working-by-full-and-part-time-status-gender-and-location-in-2014.htm

The Gender Scorecard for Business Schools: http://poetsandquants.com/2015/05/02/a-gender-scorecard-for-business-schools/

Women Still Underrepresented in STEM Fields: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/10/21/women-still-underrepresented-in-stem-fields

National Equal Pay Day Theatrics: Tragedy or Comedy?

First of all, if you have never heard of National Equal Pay Day, not to worry.  It only came into existence the day before it was first celebrated with a proclamation by his Majesty, Barack Obama.  Of course, with such short notice, there wasn't enough time to invite everyone to the festivities.  That's probably why no Republicans returned their RSVP's in time.   Also, after reading the proclamation, it appears that it won't be an annual event anyway.  It only existed that one day, this one year, an election year.  I'm quite sure that all women can appreciate this President's valiant one-day effort  to eradicate pay inequality among women.

Sadly, the day was marred by many factual inconsistencies.

It all started with the President claiming that women only made 77 cents for every dollar a man makes.  However, this number is disputed by Obama's own Bureau of Labor Statistics report that states that the current number is 81 cents to the dollar; well up from Obama's consistently, falsely claimed, politically-motivated number.  

Then, there was also embarrassment when it was pointed out that women, as part of the White House staff, are only paid 88% of what men are. The best that Presidential Press Secretary  Jay Carney could do to explain this was to say that the White House was doing better than the nation as a whole.  Well one would think so, since I'm guessing that the female staff members aren't merely waitresses who are able to supplement there legally paid less than the minimum wages with tips.

Of course, no Obama event would be complete without him using his faithful pen and issuing an order or two.  On that day, he used it to sign an executive order and to issue a memorandum.

The executive order told federal contractors that they cannot retaliate against anyone who wants to discuss their pay.  But, the order also states that contractors aren't required to discuss it.  So, if an employee wants to talk about salary, his boss can just say "shoo, out of here" because the President's order says I don't need to talk to you about it.   It also states that the employer is not compelled to make public everyone's pay. That's a relief.  Can you imagine a corporation, of say 50,000 employees, publishing everyone's salary.  Chaos and morale problems would be immediate and intense.  Supervisors, managers, and human resource personnel would spend their entire workday justifying wage disparity, not just locally, but nationwide.

Besides being a waste of ink, this executive order shows how out of touch the President is with business operations in the U.S.  We are, primarily, a country where one's pay is determined by merit.  Raises are typically handed out annually.  At that time, it is common for salary (and job performance) to be reviewed.  Additionally, most businesses have an "open door policy" where employees can discuss any grievance; without retaliation.  Many businesses have a Human Resources department or personnel manager who can intervene if there seems to be an unresolvable issue between a supervisor and an employee.  If all else fails, an aggrieved employee can always file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and that federal agency can guarantee that no retaliation will take place by doing so.  So, this begs the question: Do we have such a massive "retaliation" problem in this country that Obama needed to correct it by executive order?   Just more theatrics from this very tragedian President.

Then, there was the President's memorandum "instructing the Secretary of Labor to establish new regulations which will require federal contractors to submit to the Department of Labor, summary data on compensation paid to their employees, including data by sex and race."  Again, more theatrics.  The EEOC already, by law, collects such data from every business with 100 or more employees, or any federal contractor with more than two employees, in the form of 4 different reports.

Lastly, the day was to be capped with the Democrat-controlled, Senate's passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act which was supposed to mirror much of the President's executive order and apply those mandates to all businesses. But, that failed; for the third time.  It failed because too much of the law was a gift to trial lawyers; giving them broad sanctions to literally sue some businesses out of existence. It never had a chance of passing the Republican-controlled House and that was the real purpose of the re-submission of it in the Senate.  Obama had hoped for passage in the Senate so he could point to the House's rejection of the Paycheck Fairness Act as further proof that the GOP are conducting a war on women.

The real tragedy of that day was the President's fake attempts to convince women that he was doing something for them.  From fake data to a useless executive order and memorandum and a previously failed piece of legislation, nothing attempted or accomplished that day furthered any woman's pay situation in America.  It was all a bunch of fluff to garner women's votes in the fall and distract from the horrors of ObamaCare.  Further, it was a tragedy that the real problems facing women aren't being addressed. Things like jobs, the economy, and truly affordable healthcare for their families.

The rich comedic payoff was watching Jay Carney dance around the fact of the White House's failure to pay women equally.  Just as laughable was the fact that the Democrat-controlled Senate failed to pass any legislation that might have helped them in the fall elections.  This was their own fault by presenting legislation that overreached and would actually hurt the economy and ultimately women's causes. If employers start thinking of women as constant adversaries who will easily take them to court, their chances of even being hired, let alone promoted, could be greatly compromised.


References:

Presidential Proclamation -- National Equal Pay Day, 2014: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/07/presidential-proclamation-national-equal-pay-day-2014

President Obama’s persistent ’77-cent’ claim on the wage gap gets a new Pinocchio rating: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/04/09/president-obamas-persistent-77-cent-claim-on-the-wage-gap-gets-a-new-pinocchio-rating/

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Women's Earnings: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswom2012.pdf

As Obama Spotlights Gender Gap in Wages, His Own Payroll Draws Scrutiny: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/08/us/politics/as-obama-spotlights-gender-gap-in-wages-his-own-payroll-draws-scrutiny.html

FACT SHEET: Expanding Opportunity for All: Ensuring Equal Pay for Women and Promoting the Women’s Economic Agenda: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/08/fact-sheet-expanding-opportunity-all-ensuring-equal-pay-women-and-promot

EEO Reports / Surveys: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/04/08/fact-sheet-expanding-opportunity-all-ensuring-equal-pay-women-and-promot

Senate falls six votes short of passing Paycheck Fairness Act: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/04/09/senate-falls-six-votes-short-of-passing-paycheck-fairness-act/

Fact Checking Obama's Statement on Women and Income Inequality

While there were dozens of half-truth's and outright lies that I could have written about following the President's State of the Union address, none are more outrageous than these two minutes:

First of all, the fact that women only make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns would be an accurate statement if we were all listening to his speech in 2004.  If the President took the time to read the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report on this exact topic, he would have read the following on the very first page:

 "In 1979, women working full time earned 62 percent of what men did; in 2011, women’s earnings were 82 percent of men’s."

And, that 82 percent is up from 81 percent in the previous year.

More importantly, the 82 percent number doesn't even come close to justifying Obama's statement that women should get equal pay for equal work.  That's because it is an average of all kinds of jobs that are held by the two sexes.  For example, more men work in higher paying heavy equipment and construction jobs than women; while woman dominate in lower paying positions such as cashiers, waitresses, and housekeepers.  Often, women choose these lower paying jobs because they give them more flexibility to care for their families.  In terms of college degrees, the highest paying jobs are in engineering.  Yet, less than 20% of those holding those degrees are women.

Now in terms of income inequality, the President seems to have conveniently forgotten that "he" signed  the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law in 2009.  Along with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Pay Act in 1963, the Ledbetter law insures that woman have the right to sue whenever there is "true" income equality.  "True" meaning that the income disparity isn't as a result of differences in skill, responsibility, merit raises, or seniority.

Then there was the statement that a woman deserves to be able to have a baby without losing her job.  Well, again, Obama has forgotten that we already have a law that protects women from that, or even as a result of having to take care of a sick family member.  It's called the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.  The overview of that law is as follows:

• Twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for:
• the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
• the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
• to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
• a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job;
• any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” 

The concept of equal pay for equal work is the basis of socialism and unionization and not capitalism.  So, yes, a woman might be paid less than a male coworker because of a lack of things like education/experience, responsibility, seniority, or merit raises.  At the same time, two men, working the same job, might also be paid differently for the very same reasons.  That's why, to my knowledge, there hasn't been a slew of lawsuits being filed since the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was passed.

Once again, this President is distorting the facts in order to garner women's votes; and, he knows quite well that many woman (and, of course men, too) won't fact check all his lies.

References:

BLS Reports: Women in the Workplace: February 2013: http://www.bls.gov/cps/wlf-databook-2012.pdf

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilly_Ledbetter_Fair_Pay_Act_of_2009

Equal Pay Act of 1963: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Pay_Act_of_1963 

U.S. Department of Labor: Family and Medical Leave Act: http://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/

Engineering by the Numbers: http://www.asee.org/papers-and-publications/publications/college-profiles/2011-profile-engineering-statistics.pdf

Which College Degrees Earn the Highest Wages?: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/5-best-and-worst-paying-college-degrees/