April 14,
2015 (Lansing) – The state’s leading small business organization,
the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), took issue today with claims by labor advocates that employers are to blame for differences in pay between men and women.
The response
was prompted by an “Equal Pay” rally held at the state Capitol by the
Progressive Women’s Legislative Caucus to introduce pay equity legislation. Advocates
of such legislation, also called “Paycheck Fairness” laws, contend that
differences in pay between men and women are the fault of unfair discrimination
by employers.
“Advocates
of equal pay for equal work have long lamented the wage gap between men and
women and have looked to big government at all levels (Fed, state and local) to
right this wrong through law and regulation,” said NFIB State Director Charlie
Owens. “Even though equal pay has been the law since John F. Kennedy signed the
Equal Pay Act of 1963, advocates insist that the free market has got it all
wrong and more needs to be done – more government intervention, that is.”
Owens said
that the often proclaimed “77 cents on the dollar” difference in pay between
men and women is more the product of creative statistics than reality. “A study
by the Pew Center showed that the average gender gap is closer to an 84 cents on
the dollar difference and for younger women with more education it is as small
as 93 cents on the dollar difference,” said Owens. “The gap would probably not
exist at all but for the economic downturn in the last decade that suppressed
all incomes.”
“More
regulatory micro-management of employers, especially small business job
providers, is not going to do anything but provide full employment for
government bureaucrats and trial lawyers,” said NFIB State Director Charlie
Owens. “Studies have shown that most of the differences in pay between men and
women can be attributed to education, hours worked, length of time in the work
force and other factors unrelated to gender.”
Owens
pointed to a recent article by the New York Times that claimed that women are
about to overtake men in the middle class earnings category. According to
Owens, the Times story referenced a report that states that: “The types of jobs that pay
middle-class wages — between $40,000 and $80,000 in 2014 dollars — have shifted
since 1980. Fewer of these positions are in male-dominated production
occupations, while a greater share are in workplaces more open to women.”
“The real
concern of equal pay advocates seems to be the danger that the market might
correct this problem before they can create a new government agency to regulate
it,” said Owens.
