STORY BY MORGAN GSTALTER
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) released data collected from the last school year, 2013-2014, regarding the average faculty pay.
In the Feb. 18 issue of the Times-Delphic, the TD reported in “Are all professors created equal?” the results of the data from the 2012-2013 school year.
That data concluded that there was a 12 percent gender pay gap between male and female full professors, 11 percent between associate professors and four percent between assistant professors.
Between 2012-2013, the average full female professor made $99,550 compared to the average $113,000 salary for male professors. That is a roughly 12 percent gender pay gap.
Between 2013-2014, female salaries of full professors raised an average of $674 dollars for an average salary of $100,224.
The average salary of full male professors was $113,094, raising an average of $94.
Between 2012-2013, male associate professors made $78,600 compared to $70,100 for female associate professors. While the 2013-2014 female associate professors received an average raise of $289, totaling $70,389, male associate professors actually received an average pay decrease of $858, declining from #$78,600 to $77,742.
Assistant female professors received the largest pay raise during the 2013-2014 schoolyear. Their average salaries jumped from $63,500 to $68,166, which is an $4,666 increase. Assistant male professors only increased $2,823, from $66,000 from 2012-2013 to $68,823 from 2013-2014.
The data did not include how many professors receive tenure. For full information regarding the gender pay gap, visit the 2012-2013 data on timesdelphic.com
What is the point of this article? In the absence of further understanding behind the numbers, this is nothing more than parroting numbers off a chart or table. I’d expect more in terms of some investigative effort.
Is the source for the income disparity discrimination? Without delving into the numbers, we have no idea.
From your data. . . did male associate professors take pay cuts, resulting in a decline in income of $858? Certainly not. A plausible explanation could be that male associate professors who left that position (promotions, leaving,…) were replaced with newer male associate professors who start out earning less.
Or, it could be due to the department of employment. If universities are like non-educational businesses, supply and demand affects wages. An engineer with 10 years experience is going to make more than a communications employee also with 10 years experience. If the engineering world is male dominated and communications is female dominated, an income disparity will exist because of supply & demand and value of the position, not discrimination.
Now, if there is a male and female engineer or communications employee with similar experience, then their pay should be equal. Then again, performance can affect salaries too. If the female engineer is a superior performer, then she should be getting paid more, right?
Income disparity could be due to average difference in length of employment. Income disparity could be due to supply & demand, which drives “worth”. Income disparity could be due to performance differences. Income disparity could be due to discrimination.
Research for answers. That’s reporting.