| Description |
This paper will investigate the gender wage gap existing in Utah and why Utah has the widest gap. Discrimination is considered the leading cause of the gender wage gap in Utah. Within the body of the paper the types of discrimination are discussed, and applicable economic theory is explored. An application of Neoclassical Economic principals will be defined and applied to the modernday Utah wage gap, in an effort to better understand the reasons behind the existence of the gap, and potential means of closing the gap. This paper will discuss values and gender specific roles of the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-Day Saints (LDS). It will contemplate any correlations that could be present between the church culture and the wage gap of Utah, since the LDS church is both the majority religion and historically significant to the state of Utah. There are measurable and unmeasurable factors that contribute to the gender wage gap in Utah. Measurable factors include education, experience, and occupational choice, while the influence of religion is not entirely quantifiable. There are correlations between the Utah's cultural norms and the key factors that explain the gender wage gap. |
