ABSTRACT
The magnitude and the persistence of the earnings gap between men and women has stimulated international, federal, state, and local interest. England, Canada, and Australia have confronted the problem; over 80 member nations of the International Labor Organization have ratified Convention 100, a statement of principle for equal pay for work of comparable value. In this country, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requested that the National Research Council examine the issues involved in the comparable worth concept of job compensation. The recently released report of the Council’s Committee on Occupational Classification and Analysis assessed whether (and to what extent) current practices of assessing the worth of jobs and assigning relative pay rates incorporates discriminatory elements.
