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W all Street Journal

Oct 14, 2014, p. A.13
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The Mythical 'Pay Equity Crisis'

By Gerald Skoning

As the 2014 midterm campaigns come down the home stretch, Democrats are pounding on the issue
of "equal pay for women." In his speech at Northwestern University on Oct. 2, for example, Mr.
Obama said that we must "make sure a woman is paid equal to a man." Democrats are "for equal pay
for equal work," Hillary Clinton said at a recent rally in Iowa, "and our opponents are not." North
Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan's campaign has blasted Thom Tillis, her GOP opponent, for opposing "federal
equal pay legislation."
As a campaign issue, demands for pay equity are beside the point. Equal pay for women has been the
law of the land for more than a half-century.
Democrats say we need another new federal statute to protect women because the existing panoply of
federal and state laws prohibiting pay discrimination on the basis of gender are insufficient.
Specifically, they have continued to press for passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which according to
its congressional sponsors would "provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the
payment of wages on the basis of sex." In reality, this bill would expand litigation opportunities for
class-action lawyers seeking millions of dollars from companies without ever having to prove that the
companies intentionally discriminated against women.
The Paycheck Fairness Act instead is meant to address the fact that "on average, full-time working
women earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns," as the Obama White House explains on its
website. This is not a claim that any woman earns less than any man for the same work. Pay
"disparities" between men and women generally reflect other factors such as interrupting a career to
raise children, the types of jobs men and women on average choose, the type of education they have
(sociology vs. engineering), etc.
Since 1963 it has been unlawful under the federal Equal Pay Act for an employer to pay a female
employee less than a male employee for equal work. Sex discrimination in wages is also prohibited by
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For employees of federal contractors and subcontractors,
Executive Order 11,246 prohibits gender-based pay discrimination.
Finally, 46 states have antidiscrimination statutes mandating equal pay for equal work. While the
enforcement schemes of these laws vary from state to state, the remedies those statutes provide are
comparable to those available under federal laws.

Today, the Equal Pay Act and Title VII provide a woman who prevails on her wage discrimination claim
a virtual smorgasbord of effective remedies. They include, but aren't limited to, back pay, attorneys'
fees, injunctive relief, prejudgment interest, $300,000 in punitive and compensatory damages, an
additional $10,000 in penalties, and a prison sentence of up to six months for an employer who
willfully violates the law.
A government contractor or subcontractor -- as some 270,000 American companies are -- may face
serious penalties for gender-based wage discrimination, including termination or suspension of any
existing contract, and take remedial action including elimination of illegal pay practices, seniority
relief, and monetary and equitable relief to identified class members.
Campaign rhetoric and simplistic election-year sound-bites can and do mislead voters into thinking
that gender-based wage discrimination is a national crisis and that women have no recourse
whatsoever in the face of invidious pay discrimination by their heartless employers. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Several layers of tough federal and state laws protect women from pay
discrimination.
Moreover, powerful federal and state agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission,
the Labor Department and its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, and 46 state agencies
are charged with overall enforcement of the respective federal and state laws and their prohibitions of
sex-based wage discrimination. In short, serious enforcement muscle is available to women who are
discriminated against on payday.
So our lawmakers should ask themselves, do we really need another federal statute protecting
women's rights to equal pay? The laws already exist in spades. Those laws contain tough sanctions,
generous remedies for violations, and establish powerful government enforcement agencies to pursue
offenders.
Vigorous enforcement of the arsenal of tough federal and state laws prohibiting sex discrimination in
wages will ensure continued progress toward the important national goal of true equal opportunity, as
well as pay equity, for all. The Democrats' populist campaign mantra about "pay equity" is empty
rhetoric.

--Mr. Skoning is a labor and employment lawyer in Chicago.

Credit: By Gerald Skoning

Summary:

"As a campaign issue, demands for pay equity are beside the point. Equal pay for women has
been the law of the land for more than a half-century." Even if it happened long time ago equal
pay is still only in book but average shows that women make $ 0.75 for every dollars make by
men.
Analysis: At my own Analysis there is a problem of government failure (government
intervention that fails to improve economics outcomes) who do not do enough to protect an
equal pay. Even if A lot employer and business owner have different production decision (the
selection of the short run rate of output (with an existing plant and equipment)) which will
cause them to hire men at high price because they need a labor force ( All persons over ages
16 who are either working for pay or actively seeking paid employment ) who will not quite
job easily ,they want to maximize profit (the difference between total revenue and total cost )
for that reason they dont need to hire people who will make the total cost(market values of
all resources used to produce a good or service ) of producing product going at high level
because majority of women are used to quite a job for issues of taking care their little
children which make the total profit ( the difference between the total revenue and total
cost) of company to go down.
So at this time we are in competitive market (a market in which no buyer or seller has market
power) and also of market power (the ability to alter the market price of a good or service)
the company need people who work hard in order to increase their total revenue (the price of
a product multiplied by the quantity sold in a given time period, p*q).
Other reason the majority of women and men have different college degree,a lot of women
have social science degree while majority of men have different engineering degree which
could prohibit an equal pay because on market demand (the total quantities of a good or
service people are willing and able to buy at alternative price in a given time period) a lot of
engineer and also because of how they produce a lot of product at high price they will be paid a
lot money.
So the best remedy of equal pay for my idea the government could reduce barrier entry
(obstacles that make it difficult or impossible for would be producers to enter a particular
market e.g.: patent) which prevent a lot of women to work in competitive firm (a firm without
market power ,with no ability to alter the market price of the goods it produces ) or big
company any and also women must know Perfect information ( all buyer and seller are fully
informed of market opportunities ) in order to reclaim their right of getting same paycheck as
men when they work same job .

Even if lot of company dont use equal between a men and women , an equal pays could be
one of the positive economics(The study of economics based on objective analysis.) and also
economy growth(an increase in output (real GDP)an expansion of production possibilities ) of
the country .
Additional of that protecting labor law( the law that provide help and protect workers at
workplace ) could be done for all labor or human resources(is the set of individuals who make
up the workforce of an organization, business sector, or economy. ) .
The microeconomics (the study of economics as individual behavior) research could also
provide all constraint (control that limits or restricts someone's actions or behavior) for not
an equal pay on market (a place where products are bought and sold).