[terry1156]

A new book out on why men earn more money. Some excerps from an article at <A HREF="http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050302-112943-4511r">World Peace Herald</A> Love to hear your thoughts.

By Donna Borak

Men are natural risk takers. They have the ability and willingness to work in hazardous professions like fishery, timber cutting or as an aircraft pilot. They are more readily available to relocate to remote destinations like Alaska or Kansas. Or work 60 to 80 hour a week, according to San Diego-based author, William Farrell.

Women, on the other hand, are security seekers. They seek professions, which offer flexibility with minimal risk. They want more fulfilling careers that allow them to maintain balance in their lives and offer them time to take care of their children, he says.

"Men have been trained for thousands of years not to do what they love, but what makes money," said Farrell in a telephone interview with United Press International. "Men don't want to be engineers more than they wanted to be teachers of social sciences. But every man and every woman knows that if he is an engineer he is more likely to be employed and more likely to earn more."

Among the many statistics packed into Farrell's book, which took three years to research, each demonstrates how men end up earning more money than women simply by making certain career choices.

For example, because men commute 36 percent more than females, they end up earning $1,500 more per year. In another example, the average man works an additional year and half longer in his current occupation, and works between five and nine years overall. According to Farrell, for each additional year a man works he ends up earning 3 to 4 percent annual pay increase.

Until now, the root of the wage gap debate has been based on the presumption that women are discriminated against in the workplace, thus women ending up with lower salaries. But according to Farrell that has not been the case.

Farrell suggests that women should chose careers with higher financial and emotional risks, like a venture capitalist, rather than a teacher. Or work in hazardous professions, like an administrator in the Air Force, or be more willing to relocate to remote destinations or take jobs that require less job security. The goal is to go where there is a stronger demand for your skills with the understanding that you may be trading off career security or a regular paycheck in order to earn more money.

One of the most startling statistics in Farrell's book is that unmarried women end up earning more money than unmarried men. Farrell explains that unmarried men end up taking more fulfilling jobs because they lack the responsibility of having a family or being a caretaker. While women take on work as a part of their identity, focusing on how they can earn enough money to support themselves. When they do that, they are more willing to relocate and spend longer hours at work.