[NLA] RE: NLA Discussion Wages For Men and Women: New Evidence For a Growing Literacy Surplus

[AndresMuro@aol.com]

John Tyler responded to Tom's comments through John Commings: 

"Would want to control for potential compositional changes here. For 
example, if more and more AA's were going to minority group members, and if 
they earned less than whites for other reasons, then you might get a 
spurious relationship between education and changes in mean earnings." Also, 
if more and more AA's are working part-time over time, then this 
would affect earnings levels. But neither story (if true) makes the 
case that there is an "oversupply" of AA's."

I am not a social scientist so I don't necessarily grasp all the meaning of the post. However, if minorities are getting AAs and are employed in entry level jobs, their are in fact constituting an oversupply of AAs, if there are no AA level jobs available. If on the other hand, white people are in fact getting those jobs while minorites are not in equitable ratios, there is still an oversupply, but there is also discrimination. The only way that there is no oversupply of AAs that I can see is if, there are a lot of opennings for AA positions that are not being filled. I doubt that this is the case. David Spenner has argued that to keep minorities down, the job ceiling is constantly being raised. So minorities need associate degrees to get entry level jobs. This is quite evident in El Paso, at least, where employers require specialized training for people to perform the same jobs that people with limited literacy skills perform in Juarez, the philipines, etc.


John also wrote:

"Trying to draw conclusions about gender gaps in pay is notoriously 
tricky, because it usually requires assuming that everything you've 
included in the regression picks up all gender difference, so that if you 
then see a difference in mean wages, you conclude that it all has to do 
with the labor market (e.g., gender discrimination in the market). The 
trouble is that alternative stories can always be told. For example, if on 
average women need more flexibility in their work schedules because they 
are still (on average) the primary child care person in the family, then 
women may be choosing jobs that offer lower pay, but more flexibility, than 
do men with the same education level. I think everyone believes that there 
is a certain amount of gender discrimination in the market. The question 
is, when we see gender differences in pay, controlling for education level, 
then how much is due to discrimination and how much is due to unobserved 
gender differences? Bottom line, I would say that it would be hard to make 
a really convincing case that there is a literacy "surplus" for women."

Again, not being a social scientist, I am not sure what you mean by discrimination. However, if accomodations are not being made for moms, this is discrimination. Women ARE NOT choosing lower waged jobs, but in fact are not having a choice, because there are insufficient jobs for people with "X" education. If we look at educated women working full time regular jobs for which they are overqualified, we will likely see a lot of them. Same argument as before. Unless there are openings for people with "x"`education not being filled, and women with the same level of education are working in lesser paying jobs with more flexible schedules, we have an oversupply of educated women. Also, if the jobs with "x" education are going mostly to men, there is discrimination, especially if women are pregnant or raising children. Unless, we believe that all women have husbands earning the bread and women employment is a victorian frivolity.

Please clarify, correct, explain, etc.

Andres
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