More on "pay Gaps"

Wow, pay gaps are a hot topic all of a sudden!

Today Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a speech on the issue. The text of the speech is here.

Some Look-is:

* "Although we Americans strive to provide equality of economic opportunity, we do not guarantee equality of economic outcomes, nor should we. Indeed, without the possibility of unequal outcomes tied to differences in effort and skill, the economic incentive for productive behavior would be eliminated, and our market-based economy--which encourages productive activity primarily through the promise of financial reward--would function far less effectively."

* "....the average standard of living in this country has improved considerably over time. However, by many measures, inequality in economic outcomes has increased over time as well, albeit at varying rates."

*"In real terms, the earnings at the 50^th percentile of the distribution (which I will refer to as the median wage) rose about 11-1/2 percent between 1979 and 2006. Over the same period, the wage at the 10^th percentile, near the bottom of the wage distribution, rose just 4 percent, while the wage at the 90^th percentile, close to the top of the distribution, rose 34 percent. In 1979, a full-time worker at the 90^th percentile of the wage distribution earned about 3.7 times as much as a full-time worker at the 10^th percentile. Reflecting the relatively faster growth of wages of higher-paid workers, that ratio is 4.7 today."

*"Indeed, substantial economic benefits may result from any form of training that helps individuals acquire economically and socially useful skills, including not only K-12 education, college, and graduate work but also on-the-job training, coursework at community colleges and vocational schools, extension courses, online education, and training in financial literacy. The market incentives for individuals to invest in their own skills are strong, and the expanding array of educational offerings available today allows such investment to be as occupationally focused as desired and to take place at any point in an individual's life."

From other sources: The Boston Globe:

"Bolstering education and training -- rather than erecting trade barriers -- would help narrow the economic gap between low- and high-income workers, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday."

Bloomberg: Bernanke also stressed that protectionism is NOT the answer:

"`Policy approaches that would not be helpful, in my view, are those that would inhibit the dynamism and flexibility of our labor and capital markets or erect barriers to international trade,'' Bernanke said at an event sponsored by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce in Nebraska. Any hindrance of trade and technology would ``do far more harm than good.''"

And from CBS Marketwatch:

"If we do not place some limits on the downside risks to individuals affected by economic change, the public at large might become less willing to accept the dynamism that is so essential to economic progress," Bernanke said in a speech to the Chamber of Commerce in Omaha Nebraska."