Women in Management: Analysis of Current Population Survey Data
(22-APR-02, GAO-02-648T).
This testimony is based on a GAO report (GAO-02-156) that
analyzed key characteristics of women and men in management
positions, identified the representation of women in management
positions in specific industries, and identified salary
differences between men and women in full-time management jobs.
Female managers in the 10 industries GAO examined were younger,
less educated, were more likely to work part-time, and were less
likely to be married than were male managers. In five of these
industries, GAO found no statistically significant differences
between the percent of industry positions filled by women and the
percent of management positions filled by women. In four of the
industries, women were less represented in management positions.
In one of these industries, women were represented in management
positions to a greater degree than they were in all positions in
the industry. Full-time female managers earned less than
full-time male managers in all 10 industries, after controlling
for education, age, marital status, and race. GAO was unable to
take years of experience into account.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-02-648T
ACCNO: A03139
TITLE: Women in Management: Analysis of Current Population
Survey Data
DATE: 04/22/2002
SUBJECT: Employment discrimination
Labor statistics
Occupational surveys
Sex discrimination
Womens rights
Department of Labor's Current Population
Survey
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GAO-02-648T
Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial
Management, and Intergovernmental Relations, Committee on Government Reform,
House of Representatives
United States General Accounting Office
GAO For Release on Delivery Expected at 9: 00 a. m. EDT Monday, April 22,
2002 WOMEN IN
MANAGEMENT Analysis of Current Population Survey Data
Statement of Robert E. Robertson, Director Education, Workforce, and Income
Security Issues
GAO- 02- 648T
Page 1 GAO- 02- 648T
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: I am pleased to be here today
to discuss the findings from our October 2001 report Women in Management:
Analysis of Selected Data from the Current Population Survey (GAO- 02- 156).
In that report, we (1) analyzed key characteristics of women and men in
management positions, (2) identified how women were represented in
management positions compared to their representation in all positions
within particular industries, and (3) identified salary differentials
between men and women in full- time management positions.
In conducting our work, we relied upon relevant data from the Department of
Labor?s Current Population Survey (CPS), 1 focusing on 10 industries:
communications; public administration; business and repair services;
entertainment and recreation services; other professional services;
educational services; retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate;
hospitals and medical services; and professional medical services. According
to CPS, these 10 industries accounted for about 70 percent of all wage and
salary positions filled by women in 2000. 2 Using existing occupational
titles within CPS, we defined managers as all occupational titles that
included the words administrator, director, manager, or supervisor. 3 To
identify salary differentials between male and female fulltime managers, we
conducted statistical analyses of CPS data, controlling for the effect of
education, age, marital status, and race. The source data we relied on has
several limitations that need to be considered when reviewing our findings.
For example, the CPS data does not contain some of the key information that
would be necessary to identify causes for salary differentials, such as
years of experience or job responsibility. Also, CPS data are self- reported
by respondents and are not independently verified. We conducted our work
between August and October 2001 in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards.
1 The CPS is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households that obtains key
labor force data, such as employment, wages, and occupations. In a
supplement to the monthly March survey each year, additional information is
obtained, such as for educational attainment. The data collected in March of
2000 represent labor force data for 1999. The information presented in this
testimony are estimates and have some sampling errors associated with them.
2 Appendix I provides brief descriptions of the types of establishments in
these industries. 3 By doing so, we included 39 different occupational
titles. These titles included a wide range of positions, for example,
general administrators, managers of food or lodging establishments, and
sales supervisors.
Page 2 GAO- 02- 648T
In summary, we found the following:
Female managers in the 10 industries we examined generally had less
education, were younger, were more likely to work part- time, and were less
likely to be married than male managers.
In 5 of these industries, there was no statistically significant
difference between the percent of industry positions filled by women and the
percent of management positions filled by women. For the other 5, however,
statistically significant differences did exist. In 4 of the industries,
women were less represented in management positions than they were in all
positions. In 1 of these industries, women were represented in management
positions to a greater degree than they were in all positions in the
industry.
Full- time female managers earned less than full- time male managers in
all 10 industries, after controlling for education, age, marital status, and
race. As noted above, we were not able to take years of experience into
account.
According to the March 2000 CPS, a smaller proportion of female managers in
5 of the 10 industries had a college degree or greater, compared to male
managers within the same industries. One of the greatest differences between
educational levels was in professional medical services (an industry
including clinics and physicians? offices), where an estimated 30 percent of
female managers had a college degree or greater, compared with an estimated
70 percent of male managers. Female Manager
Characteristics Differed from Those of Male Managers in Terms of Education,
Age, Part- Time Status, and Marital Status
Page 3 GAO- 02- 648T
Figure 1: Percent of Managers with College Degree or Greater in Selected
Industries, 2000
*Denotes differences that are not statistically significant.
Female managers in most of the industries we examined were younger than
their male counterparts, although for both men and women, the youngest
managers were, on average, in retail trade (39 and 37 years, respectively)
while the oldest, on average, were in public administration (48 and 46
years, respectively). Across the 10 industries, female managers were between
1 and 5 years younger than male managers (see table 1). For example, in
other professional services (which includes legal services and accounting/
bookkeeping services), female managers averaged about 5 years younger (40
versus 45) than their male manager counterparts. Hospitals and medical
services were the only industry where female managers were older than male
managers- in that industry, they were about 1 year older than male managers.
0 20
40 60
80 100
Male managers Female managers
Percent Communications*
Public administration*
Business and Entertainment
Educational Retail trade
repair services* and recreation services*
Other professionalservices services
Finance, insurance, and real estate Hospitals andmedical services*
Professionalmedical services
Page 4 GAO- 02- 648T
Table 1: Average Age of Managers in Selected Industries, 2000 Industry
Average age of managers
Male Female
Communications 42.9 40.4 Public administration 47.6 45.6 Business and repair
services 40.6 38.3 Entertainment and recreation services 39.8 38.4 Other
professional services 44.5 39.8 Educational services 46.8 44.3 Retail trade
38.9 37.3 Finance, insurance, and real estate 45.1 41.1 Hospitals and
medical services 43.7 44.5 Professional medical services 42.7 41.6
In addition to generally being younger, female managers were more likely to
work part- time than male managers in most of the 10 industries we examined
(see fig 2). For example, in professional medical services, female managers
were an estimated four times more likely than male managers to work part-
time. In finance, insurance, and real estate, there was no significant
difference between the percent of male and female managers working part-
time- both were at about 13 percent.
Page 5 GAO- 02- 648T
Figure 2: Percent of Managers Working Part- Time in Selected Industries,
2000
*Denotes differences that are not statistically significant.
Female managers were also less likely to be married across most of the 10
industries we examined (see fig. 3). The percent of male managers who were
married ranged from an estimated low of 62 percent in retail trade to an
estimated high of 96 percent in professional medical services, whereas the
percent of married female managers ranged from an estimated low of 48
percent in entertainment and recreation services to an estimated high of
only 69 percent in professional medical services.
0 10
20 30
40 50 Percent
Male managers Female managers
Communications Public
administration Business and
Entertainment Educational
Retail trade repair services
services* Other professionalservices*
services Finance, insurance, and real estate*
Hospitals andmedical services* Professionalmedical services and recreation
Page 6 GAO- 02- 648T
Figure 3: Percent of Managers Who Were Married in Selected Industries, 2000
*Denotes differences that are not statistically significant.
For 5 of the industries we studied, the percent of industry positions filled
by women was not significantly different from the percent of management
positions filled by women, according to CPS 2000 data. In that respect,
women were proportionately represented as managers in these 5 industries:
communications, public administration, business and repair services,
entertainment and recreation services, and other professional services (see
fig. 4).
In contrast, for the other 5 industries, the percent of industry positions
filled by women was significantly different from the percent of management
positions filled by women. For example, in educational services; retail
trade; finance, insurance and real estate; and hospitals and medical
services women were less represented in management positions than they were
in all positions. In professional medical services, the opposite was true:
women were represented to a greater degree in management positions (90
percent) than they were in industry positions Women Were
Proportionately Represented as Managers in Five of the Industries We
Examined
Married male managers Married female managers
Communications Public
administration Business and
Entertainment Educational
Retail trade repair services*
services* Other professionalservices
services Finance, insurance, and real estate*
Hospitals andmedical services* Professionalmedical services Percent
0 20
40 60
80 100
and recreation
Page 7 GAO- 02- 648T
(80 percent). We found that these relationships were the same in 1995 as
they were in 2000 with the exception of 1 industry. In entertainment and
recreation services, women were less represented in management positions
than they were in all industry positions in 1995; by 2000, there was no
significant difference between the two.
Figure 4: Percent of Industry Positions and Management Positions in Selected
Industries Filled By Women, 2000
*Denotes differences that are not statistically significant.
In all of the 10 industries we examined, we found that full- time female
managers earned less than full- time male managers in both 1995 and 2000,
after controlling for education, age, marital status, and race, but not for
years of experience. For example, in 1995, we found that full- time female
managers earned an estimated low of $0.69 for every $1 earned by full- time
male managers in retail trade to an estimated high of $0.90 in professional
medical services. For 2000, we found that full- time female managers earned
an estimated low of $0. 62 for every $1 earned by full- time male Full- Time
Female
Managers Earned less than Their Male Counterparts
Percent 0 20
40 60
80 100
Percent of industry positions filled by women Percent of management
positions filled by women
Communications* Public
administration* Business and
Entertainment Educational
Retail trade repair services*
services* Other professionalservices*
services Finance, insurance, and real estate
Hospitals and medical services
Professional medical services and recreation
Page 8 GAO- 02- 648T
managers in entertainment and recreation services, compared to an estimated
high of $0.91 in educational services (see table 2).
Table 2: Full- Time Manager Salary Differentials for Selected Industries,
1995 and 2000
Industry Full- time female
manager earnings for every $1 earned
by male full- time managers 1995 2000
Communications $0.86 $0.73 Public administration $0.80 $0.83 Business and
repair services $0.82 $0.76 Entertainment and recreation services $0.83
$0.62 Other professional services $0.88 $0.83 Educational services $0.86
$0.91 Retail trade $0.69 $0.65 Finance, insurance, and real estate $0.76
$0.68 Hospitals and medical services $0.80 $0.85 Professional medical
services $0.90 $0.88
Differences in salary differentials between 1995 and 2000 should not
necessarily be seen as a trend. Salary levels in either of these 2 years
could represent a temporary fluctuation and more extensive analysis over an
extended period of time would be needed to determine trends in differences
between male and female full- time manager salaries.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I will be happy to
answer any questions you or members of the Subcommittee may have.
For future contacts regarding this testimony, please contact Robert E.
Robertson at (202) 512- 7215. Key contributors to this testimony were Lori
Rectanus and Wendy Ahmed. GAO Contacts and
Acknowledgments
Page 9 GAO- 02- 648T
Industry Types of establishments in the industry Percent of all
wage and salary positions accounted
for by industry
Communications Radio and television broadcasting, telephone communications.
1. 3 Public administration Executive and legislative offices, general
government, and public finance. 4. 4 Business and repair services
Advertising, personnel supply, computer and data processing, and electrical
repair. 5.2 Entertainment and recreation services Theaters, motion pictures,
videotape rental, bowling centers, and amusement
parks. 1.7 Other professional services Legal services, accounting and
bookkeeping, and management services. 4. 7 Educational services Elementary
and secondary schools, colleges and universities, vocational
schools, and libraries. 13.1 Retail trade Retail stores, catalog and mail
order houses, gas stations, and vending
machine operators. 18.5 Finance, insurance, and real estate Banking, savings
institutions, credit agencies, security and commodity
companies, insurance, and real estate. 8 Hospitals and medical services
Hospitals, nursing facilities, and health services. 11.4 Professional
medical services Clinics and physicians? offices. 3
Total, 10 industries 71.3
Appendix I: Description of Selected Industries and Percent of All Positions
Filled by Women, 2000
(130148)
*** End of document. ***