There are a wide variety of takes, pro and con, on the gender wage gap. It's clearly very political, and so for every report X you can easily find !X out there.
It's also useful to know how this wage gap is calculated. So as you search, see if you can find any source that says this is an apples to apples comparison. Men of some age and schooling in some field compared to women of the same age and schooling in the same field. Because the 77 cents number, the 81 cents number really seems to from adding up all wages in all fields from men and comparing them to all wages in all fields from women.
Here is a report from CONSAD commissioned, I believe from the Labor Department under GWB, removed from gov't websites when President Obama came into office, and if you google it, a report criticized by many on the left, frequently and loudly.
What is interesting is that, I believe, all of these supposedly conservative reports and analysis support what Robert Reich is saying (and/or vice versa.)
It's also useful to know how this wage gap is calculated. So as you search, see if you can find any source that says this is an apples to apples comparison. Men of some age and schooling in some field compared to women of the same age and schooling in the same field. Because the 77 cents number, the 81 cents number really seems to from adding up all wages in all fields from men and comparing them to all wages in all fields from women.
Here is a report from CONSAD commissioned, I believe from the Labor Department under GWB, removed from gov't websites when President Obama came into office, and if you google it, a report criticized by many on the left, frequently and loudly.
http://www.consad.com/content/reports/Gender%20Wage%20Gap%20... [PDF]
Here's an article at Forbes that seems to break down the 81 cents number.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/05/21/mind-the-mal...
Here's a Warren Farrell article that provides more information:
http://glennsacks.com/blog/?p=621
Here's Christina Hoff Sommers, discussing in 2012, the AAUW 2012 Pay Gap study:
Wage Gap Myth Exposed -- By Feminists -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-hoff-sommers/wage-ga...
What is interesting is that, I believe, all of these supposedly conservative reports and analysis support what Robert Reich is saying (and/or vice versa.)