White men still better paid and more likely to be hired

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=422525&c=1

This article, "White Academics 'More Likely to Land Professorships,'" from Times Higher Education, is about a study done in the UK between 2008 and 2011 that showed that white candidates were more likely to be hired as professors than black or minority ethnic (BME) candidates. Of the 1,646 white applicants (to 21 universities), 21% were appointed, versus only 7% of the 583 BME candidates. Of the applicants who applied for a senior lecturer level, 11.8% of whites got the job, but only 4% of BME candidates.

The article also reported data about how much these professors are paid once they get the job. Female professors earn 6% less than male professors. By race, black professors earn 9.4% less than white professors, while Chinese professors earn 6.7% less and mixed race 3.5% less. The only race that earned more than whites were non-Chinese Asians, who earned 4% more.

The only conclusion made by the researchers was that steps should be taken to recruit more female and BME professors, and there is a need to find out why these candidates aren’t being hired, in order to stop what the University and College Union secretary called a “terrible waste of talent.” There were no assumptions or conclusions made that the universities are outright racist, sexist, or otherwise purposely discriminatory—the data and the article only report that inequality exists, not the reasons why.

I thought this was a decent article, and that it reported statistics in a way that was understandable to the general public but not misleading. The original numbers of applicants and hires were included, so anybody can confirm the percentages and compare them. However, I would be interested in what fields these professors taught in, and the average number of years of professorial experience, since that may be one reason for the difference in pay. I also wish the article had also included data about how many male versus female candidates were hired in that 2008-2011 time period, but don’t know if it was omitted or simply never counted.