They may be working on one of the hundreds of meaningless reports required by city law. There is even a law that requires the city to report how many reports are needed. According to a 57-page analysis from 2019: there were 842.
The city council is doing everything it can to reach 1,000. Last week it added another veto, overriding Mayor Eric Adams’ veto, and compounded the mistake by also forcing companies to submit annual reports that yield absolutely nothing.
Under Intro 982-AEmployers with more than 200 employees in the city must now submit annual payroll data reports broken down by race or ethnicity, as well as gender.
A second law, 984-Arequires the city to convert these reports into an analysis to identify differences by sector. This must be done every year, even if the figures hardly change from year to year.
Mike Bloomberg was fond of saying, “You can’t fix what you can’t measure.” But the wage differences have already been measured a thousand times. All studies show that men earn more than women and that white people earn more than people of color.
But few show why. And these two new laws are not different.
Like most other studies, the 984-A required city study will not demonstrate how much of the disparities stem from racism or sexism and how much is due to other factors, including employees’ job responsibilities, hours, experience, seniority, committees, etc.
As a result, it will be completely useless except for grand purposes.
We’ve all heard the statistic women earn 82 cents for every dollar men earn. Twenty years earlier, in 2002, that was 80 cents. It has hardly changed because the discrepancy is caused by factors unaffected by its publication.
Politicians like to attribute the gender pay gap to sexism, but economists have figured it out choices by women – usually related to childcare and working in lower-paying fields, such as education – are the main reason. Discrimination is a factor, but small.
Reality check: If you work more hours, you generally make more money. Become a journalist and take a break from your career to raise children, like I did, and you’ll earn less.
In 1982, women earned 65 cents for every dollar men earned. The big jump to 80 cents in 2002 was largely due to women going to college in greater numbers, giving birth later and spending less time at home with the children.
There is no single factor that explains the wage differences. But the newly requested reports by the Council will not identify any factor. They will only create work for employers and agencies, producing figures that have no practical value and will change nothing.
Actually, Intro 982-A could change one thing: it could stop companies from hiring a 201st worker and subjecting themselves to this madness.
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#Paperwork #madness #burdens #companies #city