Disproving the "Gender Pay Gap" with a Single Image (2)

The Post's "Fact Checker", Glenn Kessler, has repeatedly given the gender pay gap myth a two "Pinocchios" rating

Although many Post columnists maintain a belief in the gender pay gap,¹ the paper's "Fact Checker", Glenn Kessler, has on several occasions written about this myth, repeatedly giving the myth a rating of two "Pinocchios":

Here is a list of just a few of these assessments by Mr. Kessler:

President Obama’s persistent ’77-cent’ claim on the wage gap gets a new Pinocchio rating

“There appears to be some sort of wage gap and closing it is certainly a worthy goal. But it’s a bit rich for [President Obama] to repeatedly cite this statistic as an ‘embarrassment.’ … The president must begin to acknowledge that ‘77 cents’ does not begin to capture what is actually happening in the work force and society.

Pinocchio rating:

Thus we are boosting the rating on this factoid to Two Pinocchios. We were tempted to go one step further to Three Pinocchios, but the president is relying on an official government statistic–and there are problems and limitations with the other calculations as well.”

The ‘Equal Pay Day’ factoid that women make 78 cents for every dollar earned by men

“In 2011, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis surveyed economic literature and concluded that “research suggests that the actual gender wage gap (when female workers are compared with male workers who have similar characteristics) is much lower than the raw wage gap.” They noted that women may prefer to accept jobs with lower wages but greater benefits (more flexible parental leave) so excluding such fringe benefits from the calculations will exaggerate the wage disparity. One survey, prepared for the Labor Department by the CONSAD Research Corp. [in 2009] concluded that when such differences are accounted for, much of the hourly wage gap dwindled, to about 5 cents on the dollar.”

Here’s the report:

An Analysis Of The Reasons For The Disparity Of Wages Btwn Men And Women

1.31MB ∙ PDF file

Download

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Pinocchio rating:

So it’s long past time for politicians such as Sanders to stop repeating the “78 cent” factoid without the proper context — especially if they are giving speeches on Equal Pay Day.

We reaffirm our Two Pinocchio rating.

Here are the facts behind that ’79 cent’ pay gap factoid

“From a political perspective, the Census Bureau’s 79-cent figure is golden. Unless women stop getting married and having children, and start abandoning careers in childhood education for aerospace engineering, the gap in wages will almost certainly persist. Democrats thus can keep bringing it up every year.

But Democrats must begin to acknowledge that “79 cents” does not begin to capture what is actually happening in the workforce and society.”

Pinocchio rating:

That’s certainly the case, but it does not excuse a broad-brush approach that relies so much on a single factoid. So it’s long past time for politicians to stop repeating the “79 cent” factoid without the proper context — especially if they are giving speeches or airing ads on Equal Pay Day.

Two Pinocchios

1. Most notably one believer in the gender pay gap is someone who should know better, the Post’s financial columnist Michelle Singletary, but also include Karla L. Miller, Julianne McShane, Aaron Greg & Jacob Bogage, Josie Cox, Rebecca Powers & Sharee Miller, and Albert Samaha & Emily Giambalvo.