Evaluating Pay Discrimination in Tech

An article published in the New York Times on December 29, 2020 highlights allegations that female and minority employees are were underpaid compared to comparable male or white counterparts. The article, written by Nathaniel Popper, utilizes internal data from one cryptocurrency startup to compare pay differences between men and women across different job titles in the firm.

The analysis, run by Alexandra Marr, indicated that women were paid an average of $13,000, or 8 percent, less than men at comparable jobs and ranks within the company. Similarly, black employees were paid $11,500, or 7 percent, less than all other employees in similar jobs.

The article cites comparable studies conducted by David Neumark of other large technology firms like Google and Oracle. These analyses were possible due to lawsuits brought by female employees accusing the companies of underpaying women for comparable positions. For example, in his analysis of Oracle, Neumark found that the pay gap between men and women with similar backgrounds and roles was 3.9 percent. Similarly, in the Google litigation, Numark’s expert analysis found a statistically significant pay gap between similarly situated male and female employees.

See here for a copy of David Neumark declaration on the Google case.