Compensation and Gender Wage Variation
Compensation of work done is appreciated and matters surrounding minimum wages are widely discussed but there are issues of differential treatment with respect to gender. World over men seem to be earning a higher salary or wage income than women. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate gender wage variation. It seeks to analyse the hourly pay of UK citizens in the fourth quarter of 2017 and determine whether there is a significant difference or the wage is generally the same between the two. The important variables considered for analysis are gender and hourly gross pay.
Inequalities in Gender Pay
According to Beaudry 2014, there are inequalities on gender pay from the simple jobs to professional occupations. This pattern is changing in recent years due to the fact a lot of women are taking more professional jobs and emancipation of the affirmative action with respect to women in labour markets. Some of the professional education preference such as law, are having women being more than their male counterparts.
Reasons for Wage Differences
One of the reasons that led to wages differences is the patriarchal nature of communities in close to all countries. The male gender was considered more active in economic engagements while women were perceived to take care of homes. In manual jobs or work that needed hard motor skills to be particular, men were likely preferred.
Regional Differences
Regions contribute to the wage gap differences. Different cities or towns and even countries offer different rates to the workers according to the skill one possesses, either male or female (Beaudry 2014).
Analysis of Gross Hourly Pay
Figure 1: Histogram of Gross Hourly Pay in the UK
Figure 2: Histogram of natural logarithms values of Gross Hourly Pay in the UK
A histogram is generated using STATA statistical software. First it is plotted against gross hourly pay. For purposes of smoothening the data in order to achieve a normal distribution curve histogram plot is made using the natural logarithms of gross hourly pay.
The distribution of the of gross hourly pay values in both graphs is rightly skewed. Most of the participants generally earn below twenty pounds since there is much concentration under the twenty-pound mark. The pattern of the frequency for women is higher than for women under this mark revealing women relatively earn slightly lower than men. There are considerably more men than women beyond the twenty-pound mark, the distribution is more wide spread.
Box Plot Analysis
A better measure that would show the difference clearly is plotting the box plot using median since the data is rightly skewed. In addition, it would show the outliers with respect to gender, those that earn extremely high or low pay.
Conclusion
The graphical pattern shows women earn slightly lower than the men counterpart though it is not significant as revealed by the distribution. If the quality of production and level of competence is generally equal across both gender, thus even pay should be the same in all job cadres. Job opportunities should be on a level plain field for all to access them. More research on gender-wage differentials should be done rather than focusing on the minimum wages. We are in the era where soft cognitive skills as well as hard motor skills offer a combination of what is needed in the job market. With continued increase in education levels across the gender, variability in remuneration will be a thing of the past.
References
Beaudry, P. and Lewis, E., 2014. Do male-female wage differentials reflect differences in the return to skill? Cross-city evidence from 1980-2000. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 6(2), pp.178-94.
