Joanne McGoldrick, associate vice president for total rewards, said Ohio State is committed to addressing issues of pay inequity on campus. Credit: Jack Westerheide | Photo Editor

Dear Editor:

I want to thank the Lantern for a detailed examination of the important issue of gender pay disparities and especially recognize the hard work that Erin Gottsacker put into her project on this topic (“Gender pay gap at Ohio State,” Dec. 5).

The median figures cited in the story indicate the gender pay gap at Ohio State, when adjusted for inflation, has decreased by almost 17 percent in the past 10 years — far better than the 7.4 percent decrease in the national wage gap for full-time workers between 2000 and 2015, reported by the U.S. Department of Labor. This progress is encouraging, but we recognize there is more work to be done.

It is helpful to compare Ohio State’s gender pay gap to national and central Ohio statistics. Median salary data for employees working at least 50 percent full-time equivalent in 2016 and 2017 show that women at Ohio State earned 89.6 percent, and 89.8 percent, respectively, of what men earned. Nationally, women earn 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, and in the Columbus metropolitan area, women earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by men.

The university’s goal is to close the gender wage gap even though we are doing better than the general surrounding market. To that end, Ohio State has signed on to the Columbus Commitment: Achieving Pay Equity initiative. I am proud to represent Ohio State in this employer-led effort to address pay equity in central Ohio.

Working together, we can address this issue.

Joanne McGoldrick

Associate Vice President for Total Rewards

Office of Human Resources