What is the Controlled Wage Gap?
The controlled wage gap refers to comparing people of different gender or race with the same education, work experience, and background. You could also consider this comparing “apples to apples” where the only variable is gender or race. When all other factors are equal, women make about $0.99 for every dollar earned by men. This represents significant progress in previous decades, and is something to celebrate. However…
You may hear people referring to the controlled wage gap to falsely claim that wage gaps are no longer a problem. The controlled wage gap does not take into account the major differences in opportunities presented to men and women and people of different races. It is worth considering the opportunity wage gap to get a more clear picture of how women are more likely work in lower paying fields, and how as a society we tend to undervalue industries that predominantly employ women.
Learn more about the Opportunity Wage Gap at the next stop…
