Pay Equity Outcomes in the Public Sector: Resolving Competing Interests

Abstract

Comparable worth or pay equity polbies have been used in the last decade as a strategy to reduce the male-female wage gap. The Equal Pay Act has had little signifbant impact on the gerKier wage gap because men and women do not work in the same job. Additbnally, affirmative actbn and other promotbn strategies do not affect the millbns of women who work in femaledominated jobs. Thus feminists and policy makers turned to the concept of equal pay for work of equal value to raise the wages of female-dominated jobs relative to other jobs.Despite an impressive amount of activity on pay equities, there is no standard operatbnat definition of equity or comparable worth (Cook, 1985). There are generally accepted theoretical concepts but little in the way of specifb guides to achieving equity in a partbular firm or organization. One generally accepted concept is that a comparable worth policy would pay equal wages for jobs of equal value, where value is measured by the skill, effort and responsibility required by the job. Similarly, a pay equity policy wouki attempt to eliminate discriminatbn against women in pay rates. Many authors use these concepts interchangeably (Evans and Nelson. 1989a; 1989b).These concepts are not precise. A policy whbh sets out to pay equal wages for jobs of equal value or to eliminate discriminatory elements in the pay plan has many avenues open to it. requiring numerous technbal and policy decisbns. The thesis of this paper is that comparable worth remains a polby which is implemented in an ad hoc fashion. The actual outcome in any partbular organization will be crafted by the important players who usually determine personnel and wage policies. In the public sector the outcome will be determined by |3olitbal arKJ administrative processes involving unbns, management, women's groups, elected offbials, consultants ar\d private sector businesses. These groups must decide on basb objectives as well as technbal issues such as measuring the value of jobs and determining the magnitude of current pay inequities.Thus pay equity is a point of struggle at the workplace, and basic outcomes can vary according to the relative power and orientatbn of the players, the latwr relations and politbal atnriosphere, and the objective conditions of the organization in questbn. This paper seeks to describe the potential interests and concerns of the major players in a public sector comparable worth project and how these interests can affect the outcome of the project. The orientation of the players toward pay equity is critical-a comparable worth policy can be designed j implemented with the cooperation of the parties, but it is relatively easy for

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