| The Equal Opportunities Commission discovers supply and demand |
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| Written by Tim Worstall | |
| Sunday, 10 June 2007 | |
No, we shouldn't wonder why it took them so long, rather, we
should be as the angels in heaven, joyous over the sinner that repenteth :Research carried out by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) shows that the proportion of female graduates in such jobs rose from 5.4% to 13.2% between 1995 and 2005, compared with a rise from 4.3% to 7.1% for male graduates.Now that they've discovered that supply and demand are, as the economists have been trying to point out for the past few centuries, the things that actually determine pay, can we get the very same EOC to understand a few more ideas put forward by the pointy-heads? For example, that as part-time workers cost more to employ than full-timers, for equivalent hours worked, then the part-timers will be paid less per hour? That increasing the cost of employing women by mandating long maternity leaves will reduce the amount those women are paid? No, I'm not holding my breath for those to sink in. As to the larger point about the benefits of education: if we are to take a strictly accounting view of the costs and benefits, we might find that higher education has expanded too far. As indeed seems to be the case : Subject choice is crucial. Other things being equal, the rates of return to maths and computing, engineering and technological subjects and medicine (the "hard" subjects) are, unsurprisingly, robustly positive. Other choices are less remunerative and, in the case of arts degrees for men and after allowing for the new £3,000 level of tuition fees, the calculated average rate of return is actually negative.Yes, of course, there other than strictly economic benefits to studying at university but could we at least stop justifying the expansion of the number going on those non-existent economic grounds?
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