Articles

Survey: Minorities Perceive, Receive Less Pay Equity

Tammy Joyner, AJC Staff
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
July 21, 2004

Race matters -- at least when it comes to workers' perception of whether they're being paid fairly, according to a national survey released Tuesday.

Overall, half of the 3,712 working men and women polled believe they're being paid on par with others who do similar work, the Hudson Compensation Survey found. But attitudes differ significantly along racial lines.

Only one in three blacks and 37 percent of Hispanics felt that way. By contrast, more than half of whites Ñ 54 percent Ñ believed they were getting the same pay for the same work.

"The survey points to a very sensitive yet critical issue facing the American workplace," said Jeff Anderson, senior vice president for the international staffing and outsourcing firm. "Fair compensation is a business imperative. We've found that there really is a direct correlation between perception and reality."

The latest government figures on overall weekly earnings show that whites outearn blacks and Hispanics by at least $100.

The Hudson findings come at a time when all workers have seen little change in their paychecks in the last few years. Despite the economic recovery, wages haven't kept pace with the cost of living. At the same time, other cost-of-living factors, namely health care, are eating into workers' pay.

"The bulk of workers are basically slowly sinking in terms of real standard of living," said Les Hough, director of the Center for the Workplace at Georgia State University. Compounding the problem: Minorities traditionally have worked in industries Ñ manufacturing and services Ñ that have either done poorly in terms of recovery or didn't pay well in the first place, Hough added.

As a result, the disparity and dissatisfaction can lead to a series of workplace problems, from low morale and productivity to employment discrimination lawsuits.

"People aren't just kind of feeling as if they're being squeezed, they really are," Hough said.

In addition to pay disparity, worker attitudes differed when it comes to pay-for-performance. The Hudson survey found that most workers believed length of time on the job Ñ not how well you perform Ñ results in better pay.

Only 36 percent of workers felt better performance leads to higher pay. Women were more skeptical. Just 30 percent of women believed employees who do a better job receive more compensation, compared with 42 percent of men.

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