New Book Human Capital Systems, Analytics and Data Mining Now Available in Paperback

My new book Human Capital Systems, Analytics and Data Mining includes Relational and Dimensional Modeling Tutorials with Data Modeling of Human Capital Information Database Systems that include special emphasis on Compensation Data Structures and Analytics.

Detailed Tutorials cover Human Capital Databases from Relational to Dimensional which are then exposed to in depth Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Data Mining Projects.  Coverage of Compensation Systems include Extensive Original Research in Gender Based Pay Equity Issues through the lens of Comparable Worth.  Replication of the Pay Equity research with New Findings is included in Tutorials throughout the text.

Development of OLAP Databases and Human Capital Data Mining Projects further exploring contemporary Human Capital Research are the main focus of the book.  Also included are development of Human Capital Information System Interactive Dashboards that effectively visualize recommended internal research methods along with detailed Tutorials on how to create and maintain the Dashboards.  Dashboard development are mainly concentrated on Compensation Metrics and Analytics.

Korn Ferry Study: Women earn 98% of the wages of men. No Gender Wage Gap when jobs are the same.

According to a recent article in Economist.com Women do earn about the same as men when jobs are equal. In the article the Economist reports that according to data from 25 countries, gathered by Korn Ferry, "women earn 98% of the wages of men who are in the same roles at the same employers".
This would seem to indicate that when Gender Pay Gap studies are viewed from a high level, not taking into account Comparable Worth of jobs, that the differences must be distorted by Occupational Career Level Differences rather than discrimination when jobs are the same.

More recent research by this Blog Author in a new book Human Capital Systems, Analytics and Data Mining to be published Spring/Summer 2018 does find that Gender Based Upward Occupational Mobility Issues are the true base issue when examining Gender Based Employment and Pay Status Progress.

H-1B Visa Economic mpacts

According to the National Bureau of Ecomonic Research (NBER) in their 2017 published study Understanding the Economic Impact of the H-1B Program on the U.S. wages for Computer Scientists would have been 2.6% to 5.1% higher from 1994 to 2001 had it not been affected by immigration permitted under the H-1B Visa Program. The study also finds that employment for US Workers would have been 6.1% to 10.8% higher in the same period if it not for the H-1B visa program.

The overall opinion of US Tech workers, while generally strongly supportive of diversity in Science and Technology Careers in US companies is that the H-1B Visa program has limited opportunities in those career fields for US workers and has kept salaries suppressed. The ongoing controversy of the H-1B Visa Program could be moderated by stricter standards for administration to insure that the program is not used for importing cheap labor and that qualified US citizen workers are given priority in hiring and promotion especially in Federal, State and Local Government including public colleges and universities.

New Tiered Oregon Minimum Wage Law Upsets Natural Geographic Wage Differentials

Oregon’s new minimum wage law effective July 1st schedules wage increases July 1, 2016 for the next six years.  The law requires Portland Employers to provide a minimum wage $2.25 an hour higher than the minimum wage for non urban countines. This tiered approach is nonsensical at best in that naturally occurring Geographic Wage Differentials  between metro and non metro areas have existed for decades in every state for most occupations.

Many consulting firms have offered for years Geographic Salary Differential studies outlining salary differentials for jobs between different Geographic Locations.  One of the most in-depth reports is the CompGeo Online Professional Geographic Differentials Report  which contains analysis with drill down to the Job Family Level not found in other such studies and is updated yearly.

The artificial differential in minimum pay rates enacted in Oregon ignores the reality that Geographic Salary Differentials occur as a matter of course due to local cost of living differentials, demand for labor and other economic variables.  This ill conceived law will undermine and upset business planning and competitiveness across Oregon and will eventually lead to for profit enterprises being at a severe disadvantage when compared to other states without such unrealistic and anti-commerce wage limitations. 

Salary and Total Compensation Forecasts

Reliable Salary and Total Compensation Forecasts need to take into account a wide range of past, present and future planning data from a wide number of sources.  While there are a number of Salary Budget and Structural Compensation Surveys available those are only a very small portion of the data that must be considered in developing algorithms to forecast Compensation Trends.

Geographic Factors, Labor Availability, Occupational Growth Trends, Historical and current Compensation and Benefit levels, Industrial and Service Sector growth and relocation movements and a host of other factors are all in play.

Compensation Forecasts that takes into account the above wide range of factors include

Short and Long Range
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
CompGeo Salary and Compensation Forecast Library

Short Range
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Hay Group Forecasts
Mercer Compensation Forecasts
Robert Half Salary Guides

Do we need another Equal Pay Act?

A new push from Washington, D.C. tries to address the 'Gender Wage Gap' via a central approach to more open information concerning wages to make transparent all Compensation Systems in both private and public organizations.

The Gender Wage Gap phenomenon is often misunderstood and discussed by looking at the issue from 30,000 feet or higher without attempt by most to fully understand the underpinnings of the issue.  When understood in-depth it becomes apparent by Compensation Academics, Researchers and Practitioners that when drilling down into the issue the true problem becomes unveiled.

The true story when fully investigating available data down to comparable jobs assigned in similar pay grades is that Men do not earn more that Women when population by Salary Grade level is taken into account.  In actuality, Women who occupy jobs in higher numbers then Men in Professional and Mid Management Occupations actually earn more since they stay in those jobs longer due to lower numbers in higher level (eg Executive) positions.

So, the notion that Men earn more than Women is incorrect in that the full story is not told in that short statement.  What is true is that Women for any number of reasons do not occupy enough positions in higher level graded jobs as men in certain categories.  The more telling explanation is the 'Glass Ceiling' phenomenon where for an assortment of reasons Women are not found as prevalent as Men in the highest Salary Grade Levels.

What is needed are programs to encourage Women to ascend to higher Levels in Technical and Management Occupations, not additional layers of laws restating what is already 'on the books'.

Job and Competency Analysis

Today, all too often, modern multipurpose Job and Competency Analysis Tools and Systems are bypassed for quick and painless semi-automatic online Position Description and Specification Templates.  While apparently time saving and often with face validity a false sense of reliability and validity is in the long run the only result of such shortcuts.

To be truly Professional and legally compliant in Job and Competency Analysis a good comprehensive multi-purpose study approach is required which covers and links Critical and Observable Work Activities with Behavioral Based and Operationally Defined Performance Standards and Essential Employment Requirements.

This high level of validity and reliability in Job and Competency Analysis cannot be synthetically achieved via online Job and Competency Description Repository sites, public or private.

A New OMF Job and Competency Analysis System Free Community Edition** has been released with Multi-Purpose system support that includes Critical And Essential Domain/Competency Linking,Competency Profile Development and Behavioral Based Performance Standards.

The Free Community Edition Release of the OMF Job and Competency Analysis System is available to all Internal Practitioners in Human Resources, Compensation, Labor Research and related fields in both the Private and Public Sectors.

The OMF Job and Competency Analysis System is relatively new  Job And Competency Analysis Approach that uses Acrobat Java Based Technology.