Running head: WAGE INCOME STATISTICS : MEN VERSUS WOMEN 1

Wage Income Statistics: Men VS Women

Wage gap, by description, is the difference in salary among two groups of people. The

description in this discussion is associated with the practice of paying one gender more than the

other. For many years there has been speculation and research done to determine if men are

earning more income than women in the same job position. These speculations prompt the

United States Senate and The House of Representatives to assemble the Equal Pay Act of 1963,

which prohibits discrimination-of-salary on account of gender (U.S. Equal Employment

Opportunity Commission, n.d.). The act has been in existence since the late 1960s and today

there are still discussions about the difference in pay. This assignment will examine information

from the data set on gender and wages. The information will be analyzed by using descriptive

statistic to determine if men, in fact, earn more than women.

Measures of Center Tendency, Dispersion, and Skew

The statistical data for wages between men and women support the hypothesis that men

make more money than women. The central tendency of mean calculates that the average male

earns $36, 492.92 annually whereas women only average $24,451.51. One could argue that the

difference is initiated by one male in the population making an extreme amount more than the

rest of the population. The central tendency of median does agree with the information presented

with the mean. The median income for the women of the population is $21,716. Although this

number is close to the average, it still falls short of the men’s median income of $32,138. One

central tendency not seen with the population is the same amount of income earned for more than

one subject so there is no mode with the data.

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Understanding the dispersion and skew of the data can show how different the sample

data is from their individual means. The sample data from the men show that their dispersion is

less than the women’s sample income. When researchers look at the coefficient of variation

percentages one can see that the men’s income levels are closer than that of the women’s. Both

the men and women’s income levels are skewed to the right. This shows that the majority

median income is less than the mean and there are a few high levels of income. Looking at all

aspects of the dispersion and central tendency and one could ultimately see that when one

compares the sample data of income that the men do produce more than the women.

The scatter plot information shows the concentration of pay with the number years of

education completed. One will notice that as there is an increase of education there is an increase

in pay that follows. The scatter plot for the women shows less of a jump in income although the

years in education increase compared to the male sample. This shows that education does not

play a direct part in men making more than women.

Descriptive Statistical Using Graphic and Tabular Techniques

Women frequency distribution-quantitve

Wome
n cumulative
midpoin frequenc percen frequenc percen
lower upper t width y t y t
5,000 < 10,000 7,500 5,000 1 2.1 1 2.1
10,00
0 < 15,000 12,500 5,000 7 14.9 8 17.0
15,00
0 < 20,000 17,500 5,000 13 27.7 21 44.7
20,00
0 < 25,000 22,500 5,000 6 12.8 27 57.4
25,00 < 30,000 27,500 5,000 6 12.8 33 70.2
WAGE INCOME STATISTICS : MEN VERSUS WOMEN 3

0
30,00
0 < 35,000 32,500 5,000 10 21.3 43 91.5
35,00
0 < 40,000 37,500 5,000 2 4.3 45 95.7
40,00
0 < 45,000 42,500 5,000 0 0.0 45 95.7
45,00
0 < 50,000 47,500 5,000 0 0.0 45 95.7
50,00
0 < 55,000 52,500 5,000 1 2.1 46 97.9
55,00
0 < 60,000 57,500 5,000 0 0.0 46 97.9
60,00
0 < 65,000 62,500 5,000 0 0.0 46 97.9
65,00
0 < 70,000 67,500 5,000 0 0.0 46 97.9
70,00
0 < 75,000 72,500 5,000 0 0.0 46 97.9
75,00
0 < 80,000 77,500 5,000 0 0.0 46 97.9
80,00
0 < 85,000 82,500 5,000 1 2.1 47 100.0

47 100.0

Men frequency distribution-quantitve

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Me
n cumulative
midpoin frequenc frequenc percen
lower upper t width y percent y t
10,000 < 20,000 15,000 10,000 12 22.6 12 22.6
20,000 < 30,000 25,000 10,000 11 20.8 23 43.4
30,000 < 40,000 35,000 10,000 12 22.6 35 66.0
40,000 < 50,000 45,000 10,000 6 11.3 41 77.4
50,000 < 60,000 55,000 10,000 5 9.4 46 86.8
60,000 < 70,000 65,000 10,000 4 7.5 50 94.3
70,000 < 80,000 75,000 10,000 1 1.9 51 96.2
80,000 < 90,000 85,000 10,000 2 3.8 53 100.0

53 100.0
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Best Measures of Central Tendency and Dispersion

A similarity given in the histograms is that both the men and women show a right-skew

distribution. The mean is higher than the median for both samples. One difference we can notice

is the outliners that the sample of women has in their histogram while the men have a more tight

formation. The sample of women shows a mean salary of $24, 451 with a median income of

$21,716. The sample of men shows a mean salary of $36,493 and a median of $32,138. Due to

this information we can conclude that the best measure of central tendency is the median wage

since the outliners of higher wages can throw off the mean salary.

In terms of dispersion and by looking at the mid-point values of the lowest and highest

salary classes, the range for men is in the order of $70,000, whereas the range for women is in

the order of $75,000. The range is a measure of dispersion very sensitive to outliers, as it is
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calculated by subtracting the highest data point from the lowest. Outliers make the range a poor

measure of dispersion. A better measure of dispersion for the data is the standard deviation. For

the women’s salary sample, the standard deviation is approximately $12,322 whereas for the

men it is approximately $22,086.

According to the descriptive statistics provided it can be determined that men make more

than women on average with a difference of 10,000 more a year, if not more in some respects.

The comparisons made prove that women and men according to the sample size evaluated

average the same within the age range of 18 to 30. However, the variance becomes apparent

between men and women as age increases.

Many conclusions can be drawn here regarding why there is such a discrepancy. The

sample size will determine the measurements being considered, the factors of interest are age,

occupation, educational background, and ethnicity. The research answers all questions in regard

to similarities and differences in wage earnings between men and women. It would be helpful to

eliminate bias by analyzing the sample size by making sure that the population is being

accounted for. If more data is added to the information currently gathered, it would change the

calculations and possibly prove a different theory.

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References

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). The Equal Pay Act of 1963. Retrieved

from http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/epa.cfm