Over the next few days, I'd like to take a look at Congressman Walberg's staff. Thanks to an anonymous tip, I think there are some things worth looking at.

Before I begin, I just want to say I have nothing but respect and admiration for the people who work in a congressional office. Obviously, given their employer, Tim Walberg, I don't agree with their ideology, but these are hard-working people. They're being asked by us to help educate the congressman, solve all of our constituent problems, navigate the mess that is the federal bureaucracy, walk the fine line between politics and good government, and maintain high ethical standards. And, on top of all that, they've got to deal with phone calls from people who may seem a little bit crazy.

In other words, the staffers who work in Congressman Walberg's office really do a lot of hard work.

But what's it like to work in his office? Is it worth it? Are his staffers happy? You'd have to ask them. Are they fairly compensated? Well, that's actually something we can look at. As has been noted by others, staffers are probably underpaid, but in Walberg's office, some people are paid better than others.

As one more way that we can ensure openness in government, members of Congress report what they pay their staffers. I'm not interested in publicizing the financial data of ordinary folks trying to do their jobs, so I've removed names from the data I'm going to share. Instead, I'll give you only their pay level, job title, and gender.

Here's how Congressman Walberg's staff was paid during the first quarter of 2007, from January 01, 2007 to March 31, 2007.

Gender	Job Title	Amount
Male	District Director	$17,111.10
Male	Field Representative	$11,336.67
Female	Caseworker	$7,944.44
Male	Field Representative	$7,088.90
Male	Grants and Special Projects Coordinator	$11,611.10
Female	Caseworker	$7,822.23
Female	Staff Assistant	$6,250.00
Male	Press Secretary	$9,777.77
Female	Field Representative	$7,822.23
Male	Legislative Assistant	$7,516.67
Male	Legislative Assistant	$8,933.33
Male	Legislative Director	$17,111.10
Male	Special Assistant	$7,577.77
Male	Field Representative	$9,044.44
Female	Legislative Correspondent	$7,944.44
Male	Chief of Staff	$25,666.67
Female	District Office Coordinator	$6,722.23

(Female staffers, for further emphasis, are in bold, and the three leadership positions-- chief of staff, legislative director, and district director-- are in italics. "Shared Employees," who work for more than one member of Congress, have been removed.)

So, what does all of this mean? Here are the averages:

Gender	Avg. Amount
Male (11)	$12,070.50
Female (6)	$7,417.60

But that includes the three leadership positions I named above, all of whom make significantly more than the rest of the staff. With them removed, it looks more like this:

Gender	Avg. Amount (No Leadership Included)
Male (8)	$9,110.83
Female (6)	$7,417.60

In other words, the ordinary male Walberg staffer made $1,693.23 more than the average female Walberg staffer.

In the second quarter, from April 01, 2007 to June 30, 2007, there were no personnel changes, but pay did change. Here's what it looked like:

Gender	Job Title	Amount
Male	District Director	$17,499.99
Male	Field Representative	$11,625.00
Female	Caseworker	$8,124.99
Male	Field Representative	$13,201.05
Male	Grants and Special Projects Coordinator	$11,874.99
Female	Caseworker	$8,000.01
Female	Staff Assistant	$7,500.00
Male	Press Secretary	$9,999.99
Female	Field Representative	$8,000.01
Male	Legislative Assistant	$10,250.01
Male	Legislative Assistant	$12,000.00
Male	Legislative Director	$17,499.99
Male	Special Assistant	$7,749.99
Male	Field Representative	$9,249.99
Female	Legislative Correspondent	$8,124.99
Male	Chief of Staff	$26,250.00
Female	District Office Coordinator	$6,875.01

And, the averages:

Gender	Avg. Amount
Male (11)	$13,381.91
Female (6)	$7,770.84

and

Gender	Avg. Amount (No Leadership Included)
Male (8)	$10,743.88
Female (6)	$7,770.84

That's right, the gender gap got bigger. A male Walberg staffer (not including the chief of staff, legislative director, and district director) would have made $2,973.04 more than a female staffer in the second quarter, up from the $1,700 gap in the first quarter.

So does this mean Tim Walberg just likes to hire male staffers for the important and higher-paying positions? If so, that seems bad enough, but let's look at his Field Representatives.

Field Representative	Amount (1Q)	Amount (2Q)
Male	$11,336.67	$11,625.00
Male	$7,088.90	$13,201.05
Male	$9,044.44	$9,249.99
Female	$7,822.23	$8,000.01

So, the one male Field Representative who was making less than a female counterpart got a big bump in his pay during the second quarter, leaving the one female staffer making the least of all four.

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UPDATE: In the comments, Jay pointed out something that I missed. On the website that I got this information from, the male Field Representative who got the big increase from the first quarter to the second quarter is listed as receiving that amount between March 01 and June 30, unlike everyone else, who's listed as April 01 to June 30. Obviously, this affects the averages and it's tough to say exactly how much he was paid for the second quarter only (not including March).

Still, I feel like the broader point remains: women in Walberg's office are generally doing the lower-paid jobs.
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What does all of this mean? There really isn't enough data to do a serious statistical analysis (though, if someone wants to do a comparison to the House as a whole, that might be interesting), so I'm not going to claim there's a clear gender discrimination case here.

Here's what I can say:

• On average, male staffers made more than female staffers in those quarters.
  
• In those two quarters, there were no female staffers who made more than about $8,000/quarter, while all but one male staffer made less than $9,000 in at least one quarter.
• The three positions I labeled "leadership positions," which receive the most pay, were all held by men.

Is there a reason Congressman Walberg pays women less? Does he oppose equal pay for equal work? Does he prefer hiring men for the "important stuff"? Or is it just an "interesting coincidence" (like District Director Rick Baxter's recent resignation and Mark Schauer's entry into the race)?

I can't answer any of those questions. But you could ask Congressman Walberg.

Labels: Constituent Services, Gender Equality, Tim Walberg, Walberg Staff