Sorry, I don't buy that the same errors would be done all over the globe. Also, I place a little more faith in the average statistician than you do. Making sure that comparable raw data is used is Statistics 101.
Haha, did not see this thread come up for a while and forgot about it.
You know what information is shown on my tax return that goes to the Tax Department? My gross salary and my tax and my net salary.
There is nothing in deductions or whatever really.
So the place that the statisticians will pull data from will be the Australian Bureau of Statistics and they in tern will get most of their details in respect to the Gross salary off the Australia Taxation Office.
Now, again, IF they are getting my Gross salary as informed by my tax return and my tax and Net salary and they did theta for each of my colleagues, then I would get more than most of the others and the guys on average would get higher than the girls.
Based on this small instance, and based on precisely the information that would be made available to the statisticians, what kind of information would be available for them to collate? If ATO did not record more than the gross tax and net salary then what would the statisticians assess of my gross salary towards voluntary overtime or commission? If you say none, then I say simply, then I would be shown as earning higher than any of the ladies in my workplace and NOT because of bias but because I earn more commission and more overtime.
If similar situations happen with other men in the office - and I know there are others. If similar is in other offices and workplaces around Australia where lack of available information is given to contextualise difference, then a statistician can be good, bad or indifferent and still get the same result with it being out in the same way.