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From: flink@umcp-cs.UUCP (Paul V. Torek)
Newsgroups: net.women,net.politics
Subject: Re: Comparable worth
Message-ID: <542@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 30-Jun-85 15:28:03 EDT
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.542
Posted: Sun Jun 30 15:28:03 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Jul-85 08:26:34 EDT
References: <482@ttidcc.UUCP> <8203@ucbvax.ARPA>  <457@unc.UUCP> <2126@ut-sally.UUCP> <393@umcp-cs.UUCP> <286@vaxwaller.UUCP>
Reply-To: flink@maryland.UUCP (Paul V. Torek)
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 14
Keywords: supply and demand; equilibrium wages
Xref: watmath net.women:6206 net.politics:9704

Susan Finkelman writes:
>There seems to be an adequate supply of auto workers, who are paid very
>well.  There always seem to be construction workers laid off, yet, they
>also are paid well.  There is a growing shortage of grammar and high
>school teachers.

Auto workers have strong unions; construction workers seem to be much
in demand in my area (lots of employment ads); the shortage of public
school teachers may A) be due to govt.'s reluctance to respond to
supply and demand; B) be corrected with a relatively small pay increase.
If you want to show that supply and demand don't explain much of the wage
gap, you have to show that the salaries of (e.g.) teachers WOULD BE
HIGHER than those of (e.g.) carpenters AT "MARKET-CLEARING" WAGES.  (See
your econ text for def of "market-clearing".)