
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Similarly, the estimate of the median annual wage for all full-time workers regardless of gender-$45,535 in 2012-is not the same as the median weekly wage for all full-time workers-$765 to $772 depending on the quarter-multiplied by 52.
#EXPLAIN AT LEAST TWO ORIGINAL STATISTICAL CALCULATIONS. FULL#
Annual data for 2012, the latest year for which data are available, estimate that women earn 77 percent of what men do for working full time, year round, while weekly data put the estimate at 82.1 percent. But this is not an issue unique to calculating the gender wage gap, since most statistics vary slightly when pulling data from different sources using different measures of analysis. Outcomes look marginally different, for example, depending on whether weekly or annual earnings are compared. The wage gap looks slightly different depending on which data source is used in the calculation. It’s calculated by dividing the median earnings of full-time, year-round, working women by the median earnings of full-time, year-round, working men, all rounded to the nearest $100. Like all statistics, the 77-cent statistic tells a particular story. This issue brief explains how the wage gap is calculated, why the numbers are not all the same, and what causes are driving the most commonly cited 77-cent figure. In reality, the 77-cent figure does capture some discrimination, but it also reflects gender differences in jobs, hours worked, years of experience, educational attainment, or personal choices that people make about their careers. Incorporating these significant factors is precisely what makes the number valuable. This has led to critics charging that the 77-cent figure is a willful manipulation of truth that does not accurately reflect gender discrimination in the workplace. To be very clear, the 77-cents-on-the-dollar statistic does not compare men and women doing identical work. The confusion around wage-gap calculations is further fueled when people misspeak about the nature of the number, what it reflects, and to which groups of workers it refers. Simply put, what it conveys is the fact that, if you average out what all women, working full time, year round, earn and compare that number to what all men working full time, year round, earn, you find that women take home 77 percent of what men do. The “77 cents” formulation is a colloquialism-shorthand for expressing a complex economic truth. With competing statistics and a highly politicized issue, the very existence of the wage gap is often called into question-along with its significance and driving causes. Some of the controversy around wage-gap estimates and figures is at least partly due to the fact that, like many statistics, the exact figure changes slightly depending on the data source used. However, a great deal of contention surrounds statistics measuring and quantifying the gender wage gap, and this confusion is not entirely without merit. The most commonly cited statistic for the gender wage gap asserts that women earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men.
