You've heard it thousands of times: Women earn 77 cents to a man's dollar. But in many ways, this statistic is misleading.
It does not account for differences in occupations, hours and work experience.
Women are more likely to work part-time than men, for example. They're also more likely to work in low-wage service jobs, and have less work experience over time (often because they take time off to care for family).
That said, the pay gap itself isn't a myth. Even after you correct for all these differences, it still exists.
As the White House leads another push on equal pay today, here are the five points you really need to know.
1) Men and women work in very different professions: The single most comprehensive survey of occupations and gender comes from the American Community Survey, which includes about 3 million American households. That data, collected between 2006 and 2010, showed secretary was the most common job for women, as it has been since 1950. Next on the list were cashiers, and elementary and middle school teachers.
In contrast, the most common jobs for men were truck driver, miscellaneous managers and freight movers.
2) A pay gap exists among full-time workers: Among full-time workers last year, women earned about 82 cents to the man's dollar. This stat comes from the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data, and it shows that even after you drill down into specific occupations, the wage gap is still there.
Take elementary and middle school teachers, for example. This is a job that is 80% dominated by women, yet men still earn more for doing the same job. Male teachers earn a median of $1,025 a week, whereas women earn $937 -- about 91 cents to the man's dollar.
The gap is even more pronounced in some other well known professions. Among retail sales people, women earn 67 cents to the dollar, and among full-time lawyers, women earn 79 cents.
3) So what's the most egalitarian job? If there's a bright spot here, it's pharmacists.
Pharmacists are a fast growing profession that offers a six-figure salary...continued...
Read the article at CNN Money
Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/patpitchaya
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