NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #26/NN_1992_26.iso/spool/alt/supermod/1770

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-13 | 2.0 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Bronis Vidugiris)
Subject: Re: differing wages (was Re: Elle MacPherson causes rape?)
Organization: Motorola, CCR&D, CORP, Schaumburg, IL
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 21:43:25 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dances with Drums) writes:
)In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Catherine Fletcher) writes:
)>1.  Doubt (by the word "if") one of the few statistics that it is safe to
)>    "believe" because the information it contains is straightforward
)>    and easy to obtain from accurate and diverse sources.
)---
)    But the statistic is meaningless.  It ignores factors of
)seniority, job type and hours worked/week.  I might as well say something
)along the lines of 'did you know people under the age of 18 get an
)average of 20 cents to every dollar an adult gets' and then try to
)use this as some meaningful statistic on how minors are discriminated
)against.  Plugh!

It's not quite totally meaningless.  However, Farrel's statistic that
'single women earn 93% of what single men earn' (or whatever the current
figure is nowadays) is also 'safe to believe' because its information
is straightforwards and comes from the same sources that the $.59 statistic
comes from.

The interesting thing is reconciling the facts - both statistics are
true.

The more one digs into the issue (of wage compensation) the more complex it
gets (IMO) and the less the simplistic media 'knee-jerk' portrayls of what
this number 'means' come to mean.