From: nissim@mary.fordham.edu (Leonard J. Nissim)
Subject: Re: Entry level salaries (was: Re: Elle MacPherson causes rape?)
Organization: Fordham University
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 18:38:00 GMT
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Distribution: usa
X-Posted-From: mary.fordham.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In article <MUFFY.92Nov9082355@remarque.berkeley.edu>, 
muffy@remarque.berkeley.edu (Muffy Barkocy) writes...
>In article <9NOV199210165558@mary.fordham.edu> 
nissim@mary.fordham.edu (Leonard J. Nissim) writes:
>>Here are the *new* statistics (from the November 1992 issue of "Notices of 
>>the American Mathematical Society"):
>>9-month academic salaries of people with new Ph.D.'s in mathematics:
>>(`new' means granted during the 1991/92 academic year) 
>>Median salary for men----$34,000  (interquartile range--31,000 to 36,000)
>>Median salary for women--$34,900  (interquartile range--33,000 to 37,100)
>>Note that women earn over $1.02 for each $1 earned per man.  
> 
>Well, if you're reading stuff from the American Mathematical Society, I
>would think you would know that the "median" is the number which falls
>in the middle of a sorted list of numbers.  This is not the same as the
>"mean" or average.  For example, suppose that the salaries in question
>are:
> 
>women: 33,000 33,000 33,000 33,000 34,900 34,900 34,900 34,900 37,100
>men:   31,000 34,000 34,000 34,000 34,000 36,000 36,000 36,000 36,000
> 
>In this example, the *medians* are as given above.  The *mean*, however,
>is:
> 
>women: 34,300
>men: 34,555
> 
>So, as the median is just one salary figure, all you can say is that
>that particular woman makes more than that particular man.  To come up
>with the "women make X for each $1 earned *per* man," you have to use
>the mean, which is the average salary *per* man or woman.  How about
>running back to those figures and posting the mean?  And the number of
>people in each group?
> 
>Thanks...
> 
>Muffy
>--
> 
>Muffy Barkocy                               muffy@mica.berkeley.edu
>~Weavers' fingers flying on the loom/patterns shift too fast to be
> discerned/all these years of thinking/ended up like this/in front
> of all this beauty/understanding nothing~ - Bruce Cockburn

The American Mathematical Society did not give the mean, nor the actual
data; that is why I posted the median and interquartile range.

The group size is fairly small:  149 men and 50 women.  These 199 people
1)responded to the survey, and 2)had academic employment.  There were 
223 other respondents, who had other employment (govt., industry, teaching
at non-college level, etc.) or were not employed.  It should be noted that 
only 422 responded to the survey at all; perhaps the large number who were
neither U.S. citizens nor residing in the U.S. after receiving their degrees
explain this.   

The total number of new doctorates was 1050; 827 men and 223 women.  
(Of these, only 430 were U.S. citizens; 327 men and 103 women.)

They did give the full range (as well as the interquartile range); here is 
the expanded chart:

Median salary for men----$34,000  
interquartile range--31,000 to 36,000
full range-----------19,000 to 52,000

Median salary for women--$34,900  
interquartile range--33,000 to 37,100
full range-----------25,000 to 50,000

It should be noted that all of the above data has been rounded off to the 
nearest $100 by the AMS. 

What we can definitely say is this: (rounded to the nearest cent)

The highest paid woman earned $0.96 for each $1 earned by the highest paid man.
The 75%-ile woman earned $1.03 for each $1 earned by the 75%-ile man.
The median woman earned $1.03 for each $1 earned by the median man.
The 25%-ile woman earned $1.06 for each $1 earned by the 25%-ile man.
The lowest paid woman earned $1.32 for each $1 earned by the lowest paid man. 

If you would like the complete data set, you could try writing to:
     American Mathematical Society
     P.O. Box 6248
     Providence, RI 02940-6248

Or try to call them at:  telephone 401-455-4000
(I don't know if they will give out the raw data, even with names removed.)  

On another topic, the percentage of new PhD's who are women among U.S. citizens
is now about 24%.  This is near the all time high.

Academic Year      Total new math PhD's      Female   Male    Female as % 
1973-74*                677                   59      618       9%
|
1978-79                 596                   93      503      16%
|
1983-84                 433                   87      346      20%
|
1988-89                 411                   98      313      24%  (23.844%)
1989-90                 401                   89      321      22%
1990-91                 461                  112      349      24%  (24.295%)
1991-92                 430                  103      327      24%  (23.953%)

*earliest year for which data by gender was recorded

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leonard J. Nissim  (nissim@mary.fordham.edu)   
Disclaimer:  "I speak only for myself."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: soc.women