Pay Inequities for Recently Hired Faculty, 1988-2004

Pay Inequities for Recently Hired Faculty, 1988-2004 Stephen R. Porter (bio), Robert K. Toutkoushian (bio), and John V. Moore III (bio) The national media and academic journals have reported a sizable wage gap between men and women in academe—a gap that has persisted over time (e.g., Ashraf, 1996; Barbezat, 1991; Ehrenberg, 2003; Fogg, 2003; Perna, 2001, 2002; Ransom & Megdal, 1993; Umbach, 2006). Data from the National Center for Education Statistics for 20042005 show that the average salary for all male faculty ($69,337) exceeded the average salary for female faculty ($56,926) by almost 22% (National Center for Education Statistics, 2006, Table 235). Although some of the total wage gap by gender is due to the higher concentration of males at the full professor rank, recent national comparisons of average faculty salaries published by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP, 2007) showed that the gender pay gaps persist within ranks. [End Page 465] Similar concerns have also been raised about the relative pay for faculty by race. Due to the relatively small numbers of non-White faculty, however, there is little evidence reported on their total wage gaps (Barbezat, 2002; Hearn, 1999). The limited information to date suggests that the total wage gaps between faculty by race are smaller than is true in the general labor market outside of academia (Barbezat, 2002; Gordon, Morton, & Braden, 1974; Hoffman, 1976; Toutkoushian, 1998b). Toutkoushian (1998b) showed that in 1993, for example, the average salaries of Black and Hispanic male faculty were 1112% less than for White male faculty. Results from national surveys of faculty have also shown that, after controlling for a variety of factors, the unexplained wage gaps in the late 1980s and early 1990s were comparable to the levels found by researchers in the mid-1970s (Barbezat, 1987, 1989, 1991; Ransom & Megdal, 1993; Toutkoushian, 1998a). Although more recent work found that the unexplained wage gap had decreased by 1999 (Toutkoushian & Conley, 2005), the remaining difference was still sizable and significant. In contrast, the limited research on pay differences by race has found that there is often no unexplained wage gap between faculty (Barbezat, 2002; Toutkoushian, 1998b). Academics have struggled to find an explanation for the origins of pay differentials and why institutions have not been able to eliminate them. In particular, little is known about the pay gaps for newer faculty by gender and race and how the unexplained wage gaps change over the course of a faculty member's career. It is possible that the unexplained wage gaps begin at the time of hire and remain constant over the career span. Finkelstein, Seal, and Schuster (1998) report that, among newly hired faculty in 1993, fewer females (49%) than males (56%) were satisfied with their salary. Alternatively, faculty could be treated equitably at the time of hire, yet pay disparities could emerge over time due to inequitable salary increases and rates of promotion. Johnson and Stafford (1974a, 1974b) hypothesized that female faculty were more likely to take time out of the labor market for family responsibilities, thus accumulating less human capital. Hirsch and Leppel (1982), however, counter that the positive relationship between the unexplained wage gap and experience could be due to discriminatory practices of institutions taking advantage of the fact that women become less mobile as they gain experience. Of course, it is also possible that pay disparities both originate at the time of hire and increase over the course of the career. Determining which (if not both) of these competing explanations is true is a crucial first step toward isolating the causes of pay inequity in academe and devising policies that would be more effective at removing them. To date, the literature on the origins of pay differentials by gender and race, and how they have changed over time, has been relatively infrequent and inconsistent. As noted by Toumanoff (2005), "Very little attention has been paid to the question of whether gender discrimination exists in faculty [End Page 466] salaries at the time of hiring (salary-at-hire), although, for both theoretical and practical reasons, it is a very important question" (p. 179). Several studies (e.g., Johnson & Stafford, 1974b; Toutkoushian, 1998a) found that the...