This is a link from Forbes magazine showing the salary gap between men and women, which I think is really quite deceptive.
It talks about two ways of comparing salaries, controlled and uncontrolled. The uncontrolled method just takes the total salaries for all women and then compares that to the salaries for all the men in the country or an industry etc. Which is where the 80% number comes from. Whereas the controlled approach takes into account all factors, such as experience, education etc.
They then go on to state that the overall controlled gap between men and women is 1%, then show that for the c-suite where it is undoubtedly the highest at 5%. But they then go on to show the gap for all industries and jobs without mentioning that what they are showing is the uncontrolled gap. Which clearly must be what they are showing, given that the overall controlled gap is 1%, whereas the gap in some of the industries they show is over 50%.
But most people reading this would assume, I think, that they are reporting controlled numbers. If this is not purposeful deception, then why do they not tell us what type of numbers they are reporting.
To me it is just one more case of a major media organization pandering to their female readers, and not wanting to shock them with the reality of the world.
Thanks for this. Amazing how they have spun the data. After admitting the pay gap is basically non-existent they go on to claim it is a horrendous problem! I wrote to them and asked for an explanation. We will see what they do if they respond.
Tom, just wondering if you've heard anything back from Forbes. If you have, let me know and I'll add it in my post on this. If you want to have a look at it, here it is:
Good idea Tom. I look forward to hearing what they have to say about it. The reason I found out about this was because of a comment sent to me by a woman who was touting these numbers, and clearly did not know how deceptively they were being presented.
The other interesting thing about this, is based on the fact that we know that equal work results in equal pay. Which means that those industries and jobs where men make so much more than women, is an indication of how much better men do those jobs and how much harder they work.
And that includes how many more hours they put in, because that is one of the factors that is controlled for. Take for instance lawyers, where men make 59% more than women. As I understand it, that job's pay is almost exclusively based on billable hours.
Sorry Tom. This has nothing to do with the podcast. But I thought it as something you would like to see.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/gender-pay-gap-statistics/#gender_pay_gap_based_on_job_title_section
This is a link from Forbes magazine showing the salary gap between men and women, which I think is really quite deceptive.
It talks about two ways of comparing salaries, controlled and uncontrolled. The uncontrolled method just takes the total salaries for all women and then compares that to the salaries for all the men in the country or an industry etc. Which is where the 80% number comes from. Whereas the controlled approach takes into account all factors, such as experience, education etc.
They then go on to state that the overall controlled gap between men and women is 1%, then show that for the c-suite where it is undoubtedly the highest at 5%. But they then go on to show the gap for all industries and jobs without mentioning that what they are showing is the uncontrolled gap. Which clearly must be what they are showing, given that the overall controlled gap is 1%, whereas the gap in some of the industries they show is over 50%.
But most people reading this would assume, I think, that they are reporting controlled numbers. If this is not purposeful deception, then why do they not tell us what type of numbers they are reporting.
To me it is just one more case of a major media organization pandering to their female readers, and not wanting to shock them with the reality of the world.
Thanks for this. Amazing how they have spun the data. After admitting the pay gap is basically non-existent they go on to claim it is a horrendous problem! I wrote to them and asked for an explanation. We will see what they do if they respond.
Tom, just wondering if you've heard anything back from Forbes. If you have, let me know and I'll add it in my post on this. If you want to have a look at it, here it is:
https://theprogressivecontrarian.substack.com/p/forbes-deceptive-gender-pay-gap-statistics
Good idea Tom. I look forward to hearing what they have to say about it. The reason I found out about this was because of a comment sent to me by a woman who was touting these numbers, and clearly did not know how deceptively they were being presented.
The other interesting thing about this, is based on the fact that we know that equal work results in equal pay. Which means that those industries and jobs where men make so much more than women, is an indication of how much better men do those jobs and how much harder they work.
And that includes how many more hours they put in, because that is one of the factors that is controlled for. Take for instance lawyers, where men make 59% more than women. As I understand it, that job's pay is almost exclusively based on billable hours.