Men like jobs where winners get paid

From Good Shit:

In a recent study, researchers posted two job ads, describing one as having competitive wages. “When the salary potential was most dependent on competition, men were 94 percent more likely to apply than women,” says economist John List. (Credit: iStockphoto[1])

U. CHICAGO (US) — Men are more likely than women to seek jobs in which they get to battle it out with coworkers to determine who gets paid more, a new study shows.

Researchers created two advertisements on Internet job boards. They posted jobs for administrative assistants, the most common job in the United States.

One ad, which was gender-neutral, described the job responsibilities as preparing reports based on news stories and fulfilling typical office tasks. The second ad, for a sports news assistant, was similar, except that the job would entail writing reports about sports stories.

The advertisements were placed on job boards in 16 of the nation’s largest cities between January and April 2010. The team then presented respondents with additional information to describe different forms of compensation.

(Continued)