Correlation between salary, gender, age, and ethnicity

Correlation

When investigating the correlation between salary and other factors, three factors lend themselves to comparison and interpretation. These include gender, age, and ethnicity. A discussion of salary is followed by a discussion of each factor and its correlation with salary level.

Salary

From the data, the minimum salary was $9,984 and the maximum $308,250. The mean salary level was $50,688.94. The mean salary could then be used to determine the correlation level of the other factors with salary.

Gender and Salary

Of the respondents, 46.6% were male, with 53,4% being female. Interestingly, both the lowest and highest salary are earned by males. Another interesting factor here is that the very highest salaries, between $198,426 and $308,250 are earned exclusively by male respondents, with 21 of respondents earning within this age bracket. There are 10 females and 5 males earning salaries at the lower end of the scale, namely $12,480. As for the mean salary, there are 5 males and 6 females earning between $50,600 and $50,800. There appears to be a good balance between male and female representation for the salaries at levels between the lowest, the mean, and the highest salaires. From this, one could conclude that there is a somewhat positive correlation between the male gender and the highest salaries. Overall, however, this correlation is weak and there is a good balance between male and female representation at most salary levels.

Ethnicity and Salary

Six categories of ethnicity were identified: American-Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic, White, and Not Available. These were represented as follows: .4% American-Indian, 5.6% Asian, 12.6% Black, 8.7% Hispanic, 71.2% White, with the remaining 1.5% Not Available. The overrepresentation of White respondents may have an effect on the accuracy of the data. It follows that White respondents are highly represented in all categories. Significantly, Black, Hispanic, and White respondents show more or less equal representation at the $17,368 salary level, which is significantly below the mean. The highest salary levels are almost exclusively represented by White respondents, with only White employees representing those earning above $198,000. From $170,000, there is minimal representation by Asian and Black respondents. One might conclude from this that there is a positive correlation between a White ethnicity and higher salary levels. However, as said, results may be influenced by the number of White respondents in comparison with other ethnic groups.

From this discussion, it therefore appears that there is a significant correlation between age and salary, as well as ethnicity and salary. It is somewhat surprising, however, that there does not appears to be a strong correlation between gender and salary levels.