Wage Gap Disparities in the United States Today
Introduction
The US has arguably the most colorful society in the globe throughout its history, more so when it comes to race and gender. Despite this deference in society the US economy though out has been identified as the most dominant economy globally; consequently, this would suggest the unity of the people individuals who have the obligation to run it. However, the US economy has notoriously been known to make the rich richer and the dependent more reliant on the wealthy. According toMourmouras and Peter, (p.104) the US shoulddefined into two dissimilar economies; one for the wealthy who know their children and grandchildren are well covered in reference to future finances and the dependent who will live through life paycheck to paycheck. From the above presented information, it is assume that from 2007 a half decade ago the US economy has to have found racial and gender equalization reference to economic activities. However, this seems not to be the case as presented by Sarah Ketterer through her article ‘The ‘Wage Gap’ Myth That Won’t Die’ published in the Wall Street Journal dated Sept. 30, 2015. Articles such as Ketterer’s have been prevalent on a number of business articles over the last decade subsequently raising the question of how bad is the wage gap phenomenon in the US today. This paper with the use of current reports as well economic trends in giving an in-depth comprehension of the US economy wage gap issues taking in consideration two major factors namely race and gender.
Discussion
Problem Statement
The US household earnings were recorded to improve sharply through the 2015 fiscal year in comparison to any other time in the country’s history suggesting improved standards of living. According to the Census Bureau’s annual report on income and poverty, the household earning have been showing significant growth over the years with 2015 standing out as the average household income index went up by 5.2% to $56,516 from the previous year. Despite this increase in aggregate earnings, a number of issues regarding the wage gap seemed to continuously prevail. A nation’s wage gap is defined as the difference derived from the average earnings of different categories of individuals in a community such as age, race, gender, ethnicity or religion as well as location (Banyard, p.45). The larger the gap the greater the inequality suffered or experienced in the economy while the smaller the gap the lesser the inequality. The consequence of a large wage gap is majorly felt society wise with a drop in standards of living as well as slow economic growth. The wage gap phenomenon has been in existence in the United States for over a century, though much has been done to reduce its significance current data continues to show the matter is prevalent.
Background
The US economy for a significant time in history has been known, until recently, as the number one economy in the globe; however, the astonishing fact has been derived from the fact that arguably the US society faces the highest amount of social disparities known today. Race as well as Gender have been factors that have brought about high contention over issues relation to economic disparities; nonetheless, such information may seem dated however, this does not seem to be that case. Janet Adamy and Paul Overberg through an article posted on the Wall Street Journal on May 17, 2016 titled ‘Women in Elite Jobs Face Stubborn Pay Gap’ stated that after conduction a research comprising 446 major occupations ‘on average women in the US earns considerably lesser than their male counterparts while performing similar duties at work” (Adamy and Overberg, P.np). Another author through the same publication posted similar results in California though the State had the “Paycheck Fairness Act” as a legislation that was amended to reduce payment discrepancies. Despite the fact that the current US community’s lives in a highly sophisticated and highly socially sensitive society this does not seem to be translated in the economy. Additionally, other than gender, race also seems to play a role in the wage disparity issues with other races with the exclusion of white men and women documenting poor payment in though the jobs remain similar.
It should be noted that the US government has set up a number of policies that are set to reduce wage disparities; however, the underlying question is if what they are doing is sufficient to see equality in the labor market sooner. The table below shows the current wage earning ratios in the country giving a vivid view of the phenomenon.
Source; PewResearchCenter.com retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/01/racial-gender-wage-gaps-persist-in-u-s-despite-some-progress/
From the chart above it is clear that the demographics of racial earning greatly favor the Asians than any other race. It should be noted that the white race is used as a comparison considering that they represent the largest employed population in the US approximately 33% by 2015. Two decades ago, this was not the case as white individuals were the highest earner in the nation; however, due to globalization factors such as outsourced human resources where highly trained technocrats are brought into the country the wages have seemingly increased (Bertho, et al, P.35). Additionally from the chart, it is evident that the women demographic in comparison to the men earn considerably less by the hour.
Despite the fact that the disparities in income seem to take the same pattern of race and gender, it is evident that there has been some improvement has been found over the years in trying to find equality. According the Eileen Patten, author of the article ‘Racial, gender wage gaps persists in U.S. despite some progress’ published on July 1, 2016, in the Fact Tank Journalthe wage gap between both races and gender have improved over the last decade with Asian women making the highest significant leap of all across the board. In reference to the gap between men, the Black and Hispanics workforce average earnings have not changed since 1980 a result that states that Black men still earn 73% as Hispanics make up to 69% of white men’s earnings in 2015 a number that has remained constant over 35 years (Patten, P.np). On the other hand, the women have made a much better effort in reducing the wage gap considering that white as well as Asian women have constricted the gap with their white male counterparts. For instance, the gap between white men and women has been reduced by 22 cents over the last three and a half decades a result that has seen white women earn 60 cents of every dollar earned by their counterparts (Zumbrun, P.np). Asian women have similarly made a significant movement towards reducing the wage gap in the process earning 87 cents per dollar earned by white men in 2015. In comparison, Black women have reduced the gap by 9 cents as Hispanic women have constricted that gap by 5%, which despite its minimal moment is greater than the movement done by their male counterparts. Though the figures shown above show an improvement wage equalization has yet to be achieved in the US society, economy as well as labor market a factor that is highly significant in improving the countries position as a developed economy.
Conclusion
The United Sates society is one of the most diverse in the globe today, a factor that stems from the country’s history of providing open business opportunities for a variety of people. Consequently, the high variety of individuals in reference to race, age, gender, ethnicity as well as education levels has seen challenges being experienced in the country’s economy. One of these issues is the wage gap disparity that has existed for centuries seeing women as well as other races such as blacks and Hispanics be on the receiving end of negative payment processes. The government as well as other agencies throughout time have placed measures that for a duration reduced the gap with more women finding additional opportunities for increasing their earnings in comparison to the men. Additionally, the racial wage gap has reduced with the total number of blacks, Hispanics as well as Asians making significantly more money over the last decade than any other time in history. Nonetheless, the phenomenon of the wage gap continues to exist a factor that may be persistent for years to come but equally solvable.
Work Cited
Adamy, Janet and Overberg, Paul. ‘Women in Elite Jobs Face Stubborn Pay Gap’. Wall Street Journal Updated May 17, 2016. Retrieved from; http://www.wsj.com/articles/women-in-elite-jobs-face-stubborn-pay-gap-1463502938
Alex, Mourmouras and Peter Rangazas. Wage Gaps and Development. Washington: International Monetary Fund, 2007.
Banyard, Kat. The equality illusion: The truth about women and men today. Faber & Faber, 2010.
Bertho, Michelle, Beverly Crawford, and Edward A. Fogarty. The Impact of Globalization on the United States. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2008.
Ketterer, Sarah. ‘The ‘Wage Gap’ Myth That Won’t Die’. Wall Street Journal Updated Sept. 30, 2015. Retrieved on; http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-wage-gap-myth-that-wont-die-1443654408
Patten, Eileen. ‘Racial, gender wage gaps persist in U.S. despite some progress’. Fact Tank Journal Updated July 1, 2016 retrieved from; www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/01/racial-gender-wage-gaps-persist-in-u-s-despite-some-progress/
Zumbrun, Josh.‘U.S. Poverty and Income Inequality in 9 Charts’. Wall Street Journal Updated Sep 13, 2016. Retrieved from; http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/09/13/u-s-poverty-and-income-inequality-in-9-charts/