Falling wages for men accounted for roughly half of the decline in the gender wage gap between 1979 and 1989 and for a stunning four-fifths of the decline between 1989 and 1997. Pay bias and discriminatory practices persist and continue to hold back the closing of the gap. Pay equity is too expensive and will cause layoffs or tax increases. Equal pay increases are usually implemented over two to four years to lessen the financial impact on the employer. Not implementing equal pay increases has a cost too, in social services such as food stamps for low-wage workers.
Equal pay increases self-sufficiency.
When education and experience are the same, the wage gap disappears. Opponents of equal pay contend that choices and not discrimination account for the wage gap. Many economists attribute some or all of this unexplained portion of the wage gap to discrimination. This is not the case. Since 1979, the educational levels of women have increased significantly.