Question:
What is the ADJUSTED gender pay gap in Iowa? Such as when adjusting accordingly for choice of education, child rearing, profession such as manual labor jobs, dangerous jobs, and other life choices?Answer:
The Male Female Wage Gap in Iowa compared to the U.S. by Peter F. Orazem and Levi Soborowicz
The Current Population Survey March Supplement includes questions about the last year’s annua earnings. The survey includes about 150-200 thousand individuals. The survey provides enough observations for us to measure the male female wage gap for Iowa, and we compare the results to the U.S. as a whole.
The next table shows median real wages for men and women in 2022 dollars for Iowa and for the U.S.. The observed median wage gaps between men and women for various years are also reported.
|
|
|
Iowa |
|
|
|
U.S. |
|
|
|
Male |
Female |
%Gap |
|
Male |
Female |
%Gap |
|
1999 |
20.8 |
17.1 |
-17.6% |
|
24.0 |
18.0 |
-24.8% |
|
2009 |
22.5 |
18.5 |
-17.6% |
|
24.7 |
19.8 |
-19.8% |
|
2019 |
22.8 |
19.5 |
-14.5% |
|
25.9 |
21.7 |
-16.2% |
|
2022 |
22.3 |
20.2 |
-9.5% |
|
25.0 |
21.6 |
-13.5% |
The observed male-female wage gaps for Iowa are smaller than for the U.S. as a whole. Wage gaps for both Iowa and the U.S. have been falling over time.
We can decompose the observed wage gap into the proportion that can be explained by differences in age, education, occupation, industry, full- vs. part-time, union status, and race or ethnicity. The remaining gap that is not explainable by those factors is used as a measure of wage discrimination, although it may also include unmeasured differences between men and women as well.
In the next table, we report the explained and unexplained wage gaps. The Iowa results are a bit unstable, but show declining unexplained wage gaps over time. The instability may be due to the smaller samples for Iowa. The U.S. results show slow but steady decreases in unexplained wage gaps over time.
|
|
|
Iowa |
|
|
|
U.S. |
|
|
|
Observed Gap |
Explained Gap |
Unexplained Gap |
Observed Gap |
Explained Gap |
Unexplained Gap |
|
|
1999 |
-17.6% |
0.7% |
-18.3% |
|
-24.8% |
-7.1% |
-17.7% |
|
2009 |
-17.6% |
-10.4% |
-7.2% |
|
-19.8% |
-3.8% |
-16.0% |
|
2019 |
-14.5% |
6.0% |
-20.5% |
|
-16.2% |
-0.8% |
-15.4% |
|
2022 |
-9.5% |
-3.2% |
-6.3% |
|
-13.5% |
0.2% |
-13.7% |
