Gap? What gap?
The Scotsman has an article reporting on the earning discrepancies between male and female graduates. It seems bizarre that in 2006 different genders could still be on different salaries. That said I'd be bloody happy to be on the 'lower' average earnings; in fact I'd be happy to be close to that so-called lower average for graduates. Much as I dislike the idea of unscrupulous employers paying women differently from men I think the pay gap between what a lot of us earn compared to the averages quoted in the press is more important.
Hmmm, don't get confused between an average of all careers and a discrepancy in salaries for doing the same job (which would, in any case, be illegal). That is not what the data shows.
ReplyDeleteThere are good reasons for any discrepancy between average salaries in any case.
DK
Y'all hit it on the nail there, DK - the report simply says graduates and doesn't say if it is comparing male and female grads working in the same post for the same company (and at the same level), so how useful is it? It also talked of men in roles like engineering, computing etc making more money but doesn't say more money than women working in the same field and company - it may well mean more money than a grad in an arts job and that's not a surprise, nor a proper comparison. If it isn't exactly like for like then there is no way to say if it is gender or other factors which account for the difference - as you say if it is in the same post with the same employer and it is different then it is illegal (and rightly so).
ReplyDeleteThe main point I was making though that there are plenty of we graduates who would love to be on 23K a year so it is hard to feel sorry for someone complaining about their pay when they earn thousands more than you.