This is the Kator Daily Podcast for Friday, April 16, 2021.

I'm Caleb Brown.

The gender pay gap, for better or worse, is largely ephemeral, and the unintended consequences of

ameliorating that problem somehow comes as a shock to people pushing those

plans. Now Republicans seem increasingly willing to push mandates for paid

family leave with some problematic

sources of funds. Rachel Gressler, the Heritage Foundation, studies labor

policies. We spoke about the push for one-size-fits-all labor markets and why that doesn't often work for women.

In general, how do you evaluate Democrats concerns about the differences between men and

women when it comes to compensation at work and specifically

what do you think is the best argument that they have to present?

Well Democrats will present just this raw wage gap looking at overall how much do men in the US versus women in the US make and it looks like there's a pretty big gap and that there's no reason for that gap. You know the Bureau of Labor

Statistics data shows that women make 18% less than men, but that figure is

really misleading because you're comparing apples to oranges.

And when we know that when employers are making decisions about what they pay their workers,

they're looking at things like what's that individual's experience,

how much education do they have, how many hours are they working, what's the field

that they're working in, and none of those factors are taken into account when you look at that

raw wage gap. And so it may actually be that there's nothing that needs to be

closed if the gap that's there is reflecting the choices that men and women make

instead of you know the allegations that there could be discrimination at play.

In terms of the best argument, maybe there isn't a good argument, but is there one that's better

...