The welldocumented gap between mens and womens earnings has aroused intense debate over the concept of comparable worth that is equal pay for work judged to be of equal value. Government business labor unions and the courts have been forced to consider whether workers in dissimilar jobs of comparable worthmeasured by such criteria as working conditions degree of difficulty and knowledge and responsibility requiredshould receive equal wages and how wage adjustments can be implemented.The issue has provoked inflated rhetoric litigation and considerable confusion. In this concise study Henry J. Aaron and Cameran M. Lougy review the conditions that have sparked the debate and unravel the implications of comparable worth for employers in public and private sectors for labor union agendas and employeremployee negotiations and for the administrative and and judicial burdens of the nations courts. The authors conclude with general guidelines for implementing wage adjustments in ways that would not seriously disrupt society or have a major impact on overall economic efficiency.