Despite legislative and legal aids designed to reduce the persistent earnings inequality between employed males and females, there is little evidence of improvement over the past 40 years. One difficulty with research on this topic has been the inability to distinguish gender discrimination—unequal pay for equal work—from earnings differences due to dissimilar work. This article describes an empirical method to identify work-similar occupations using selected measures from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (U.S. Department of Labor, 1977b). With a collection of workhomogeneous occupations, we examine male-female earnings differences within these occupations and find that discrimination against females is extensive. Therefore, although there is much attention today on the issue of comparable worth, it appears we have yet to achieve equal pay for equal work.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ALTHAUSER, R. P.
and M. WIGLER (1972) ``Standardization and component analysis.”Soc. Methods and Research1: 97-135.
2.
BECK, E. M.
, P. M. HORAN, and C. M. TOLBERT, II (1980) ``Industrial segmentation and labor market discrimination.”Social Problems28: 113-130.
3.
BLAU, F. D.
and C. L. JUSENIUS (1976) “Economists' approaches to sex segregation in the labor market: an appraisal,” pp. 181-199 in M. Blaxall and B. Reagan (eds.) Women and the Workplace. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
4.
BROOM, L.
, P. D. JONES, F. L. JONES, and P. McDONNELL (1977) ``Worker traits and worker functions in the DOT.”J. of Vocational Behavior11: 253-261.
5.
CAIN, P. S.
and D. J. TREIMAN (1981) ``The DOT as a source of occupational data.”Amer. Soc. Rev.46: 253-278.
6.
COHEN, M. S.
(1971“Sex differences in compensation.”J. of Human Resources6: 437-447.
7.
CORCORAN, M.
and G. J. DUNCAN (1978) “Accounting for race and sex differences in earnings,” pp. 3-46 in G. J. Duncan and J. N. Morgan (eds.) Five Thousand American Families: Patterns of Economic Progress. Survey Research Center: University of Michigan.
8.
ENGLAND, P.
, M. CHASSIE, and L. McCORMACK (1982) “Skill demands and earnings in male and female occupations.”Sociology and Social Research66: 147-168.
9.
ENGLAND, P.
and S. D. McLAUGHLIN (1979) “Sex segregation of jobs and malefemale income differentials,” pp. 198-213 in R. Alvarezet al. (eds.) Discrimination in Organizations. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
10.
FERBER, M. A.
and H. M. LOWREY (1976) “The sex differential in earnings: a reappraisal.”Industrial and Labor Relations Rev.29: 337-387.
11.
FINE, S. A.
(1968) “The use of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles as a source of estimates of educational and training requirements.”J. of Human Resources3: 366-375.
12.
FINE, S. A.
and C. A. HEINZ (1958) “The functional occupational classification structure.”Personnel and Guidance J.38: 180-192.
13.
FUCHS, V. R.
(1971) “Differences in hourly earnings between men and women.”Monthly Labor Rev.94: 9-15.
14.
IAMS, H. M.
and A. THORNTON (1975) “Decomposition of differences: a cautionary note.”Soc. Methods and Research3: 341-352.
15.
MALKIEL, B. G.
and J. A. MALKIEL (1973) “Male-female pay differentials in professional employment.”Amer. Econ. Rev.63: 693-705.
16.
McLAUGHLIN, S. (1975) “Occupational characteristics and the male/female income differential.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Sociology, Washington State University, Pullman.
17.
McLAUGHLIN, S.
(1978) “Occupational sex identification and the assessment of male and female earnings inequality.”Amer. Soc. Rev.43: 909-921.
18.
McLENNAN, B. N.
(1982) “Sex discrimination in employment and possible liabilities of labor unions: implications of County of Washington v. Gunther.”Labor Law J.33: 26-35.
19.
MINCER, J.
(1974) Schooling, Experience and Earnings. New York: National Bureau for Economic Research.
20.
MINCER, J.
and S. POLACHECK (1974) “Family investments in human capital: earnings of women.”J. of Pol. Economy82: S76-S110.
21.
OAXACA, R.
(1973) “Male-female wage differentials in urban labor markets.”Int. Econ. Rev.14: 693-709.
22.
SNYDER, D.
and P. M. HUDIS (1976) “Occupational income and the effects of minority competition and segregation: a reanalysis and some new evidence.”Amer. Soc. Rev.41: 209-234.
23.
SPENNER, K. I.
(1979) “Temporal changes in work content.”Amer. Soc. Rev.44: 968-975.
24.
SPENNER, K. I.
(1980) “Occupational characteristics and classification systems: new uses of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles in social research.”Soc. Methods and Research9: 239-264.
25.
STEVENSON, M. H.
(1975a) “Relative wages and sex segregation by occupation,” pp. 175-200 in C. B. Lloyd (ed.) Sex, Discrimination, and the Division of Labor. New York: Columbia Univ. Press.
26.
STEVENSON, M. H.
(1975b) “Women's wages and job segregation,” pp. 243-256 in R. Edwardset al. (eds.) Labor Market Segmentation. Lexington, CT: D. C. Heath.
27.
TEMME, L. V.
(1975) Occupation: Meanings and Measures. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Social Science Research, Inc.
28.
THUROW, L. C.
(1969) Poverty and Discrimination. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute.
29.
TREIMAN, D. J.
and H. I. HARTMANN (1981) Women, Work, and Wages: Equal Pay for Jobs of Equal Value. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.
30.
TREIMAN, D.
and K. TERRELL (1975a) “Sex and the process of status attainment: a comparison of working women and men.”Amer. Soc. Rev.40: 174-200.
31.
TREIMAN, D.
and K. TERRELL(1975b) “Women, work, and wages—trends in the female occupational structure,” pp. 156-199 in K. Land and S. Spilerman (eds.) Social Indicator Models. New York: Russell Sage.
32.
U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
(1973) Census of Population: 1970 Subject Reports. Final Report PC(2)-7A, Occupational Characteristics. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
33.
U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
(1977) Standard Occupational Classification Manual. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
34.
U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
(1981) Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 127. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
35.
U. S. Department of Labor
(1972) Handbook for Analyzing Jobs. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
36.
U. S. Department of Labor
(1975) Handbook on Women Workers (Bulletin 297). Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
37.
U. S. Department of Labor
(1977a) U.S. Working Women: A Databook (Bulletin 1977). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
38.
U. S. Department of Labor
(1977b) Dictionary of Occupational Titles, 4th Edition. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.
