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Subscribe to RSSIn 2011, men working full-time earned a median income of $48,765. Women earned just $38,373. That difference of more than $10,000 tells only part of the story of the continuing gender wage gap in the U.S. Depending on the industry, men in some states earn as much as $20,000 to $30,000 more a year than women. In some cases, the difference is even greater. Men in corporate managerial positions earn roughly $35,000 more than women working full-time in the same field.
Income inequality is severe in some industries, and there are certain states with concentrations of these businesses. In these states, the gender earnings gap for full-time workers is extremely high. In Wyoming, where there are several of these "pay disparity" occupations, women earned $17,838 less than men in 2011 — the largest disparity among all states. Based on data from the Census Bureau’s 2011 American Community Survey, 24/7 Wall St. identified the worst-paying states for women.
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In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., Institute for Women’s Policy Research study director Ariane Hegewisch explained that the biggest reason for the pay gap between men and women in these states came down to where people are employed. While the gap in pay still exists in nearly every occupation, she said, it is much narrower in fields such as health care, education and real estate. Nationally, the income gap for educational services is $7,408, while in real estate it is less than $5,000.
In states where more people are employed in blue-collar work, women are more likely to work in sectors where the pay is much lower than it is for men in blue-collar positions.
Hegewisch explained that in states where more workers are blue collar, men are able to find employment in jobs such as resource collection and construction — positions that are still predominantly male and allow for bonuses and overtime and generally higher pay. In North Dakota, for example, the booming natural gas industry employs hundreds of thousands of workers. In 2011, 90.9 percent of oil, mining and extraction workers in the state were male. Those few women who were employed in that industry earned $46,301 less than men. All five states with the highest proportions of workers in this field are among the 10 with the highest gender wage gap.
In states like North Dakota, women are often found to be working in lower-paying fields, especially retail. While the income gender gap is closer to the national wage gap in this field, at less than $9,000, the fact that a disproportionately large number of women are employed in this field results in a wide income gap statewide. In West Virginia — which has one of the greatest gender wage gaps in the country — the largest employer is Wal-Mart Stores Inc. As of 2011, 54.8 percent of West Virginian retail workers were women, the third-highest proportion in the country. Women working full-time in retail in West Virginia earned a median of just $14,304.
In the states with the largest wage gap between men and women, it is not always the case that full-time income for women is lower than in other states. In five of the 10 states, income for women was among the top 10 in the country. However, in those states, earnings among men were even higher. For example, in Massachusetts, women working full-time earned a median of $47,302, the fourth highest in the country. However, men in the state earned more than $60,000.
The gap in pay in some of these states is even more pronounced in their cities. In five major metropolitan statistical areas, male pay exceeds female pay by at least $20,000. Most of the 10 metro areas with the widest gender pay gap are in the 10 states with the highest pay gaps. In Casper, Wyo., which has the worst pay gap in the country, men earn more than $25,000 more than women.
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To identify the states that pay women the least, 24/7 Wall St. compared the median incomes for the past 12 months of both men and women who worked full-time, year-round in each state, based on data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and released as part of the 2011 American Community Survey report. From the survey, we included in our analysis the proportion of workers in each state employed in each industry, as well as the gender distribution and gender-specific income in each of these industries. We also reviewed 2011 unemployment rates.
1. Wyoming
- Difference in full-time, year-round income: $17,838
- Female full-time, year-round median income: $35,698 (24th lowest)
- Male full-time, year-round median income: $53,536 (ninth highest)
- 2011 unemployment rate: 6 percent (seventh lowest)
Much of Wyoming’s pay gap can be attributed to the jobs available in the state. Wyoming had the highest percentage of people working in occupations involving natural resources, construction and maintenance, as well as agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting and mining. While those jobs, notably in mining and oil production, tend to be male-dominated and higher-paying, the Wyoming Women’s Foundation found pay gaps still persisted in other jobs that are not necessarily male-dominated. The Casper metropolitan area had the largest gap of all 366 metropolitan areas in terms of pay between men and women. The median income for a man working full-time was $25,222 higher than for a woman working full-time.
2. Alaska
- Difference in full-time, year-round income: $15,285
- Female full-time, year-round median income: $41,529 (11th highest)
- Male full-time, year-round median income: $56,814 (fifth highest)
- 2011 unemployment rate: 7.6 percent (22nd lowest)
Alaska’s job market, similar to many other states on the list, has benefited from an oil and gas boom, which tends to pay high wages but is a male-dominated field. Meanwhile, the finance, insurance, real estate and rental properties occupations — fields with a lower pay gap compared to others — comprised a national-low 4 percent of jobs in the state. Including part-time workers, the difference in median income between men and women was higher than any other state, with a $16,474 discrepancy. The National Women's Law Center found that women made up roughly two out of every three minimum wage workers in Alaska. High educational attainment by women did not erase the pay gap. As a whole, Alaskan women with a bachelor’s degree earned less than men with just some college or an associate degree.
3. Louisiana
- Difference in full-time, year-round income: $15,130
- Female full-time, year-round median income: $32,633 (ninth lowest)
- Male full-time, year-round median income: $47,763 (20th highest)
- 2011 unemployment rate: 7.3 percent (16th lowest)
More than 8 percent of jobs in Louisiana were in construction, more than any other state, with more than 90 percent of those construction jobs filled by men. Meanwhile, the 10.6 percent of jobs in arts, entertainment, recreation and food services, which generally offer lower pay, were the seventh highest of all states. Women filled more than 55 percent of those jobs. Two Louisiana metropolitan areas were among the 10 areas with the highest wage gap between men and women. Women in the Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux metro area with full-time, year-round jobs earned $20,315 less than men with similar positions, which is the fourth largest wage gap. Women in Lake Charles earned $18,462 less, the 10th largest gap.
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4. Utah
- Difference in full-time, year-round income: $15,094
- Female full-time, year-round median income: $34,052 (13th lowest)
- Male full-time, year-round median income: $49,146 (19th highest)
- 2011 unemployment rate: 6.7 percent (11th lowest)
In 2011, Utah women with full-time, year-round jobs earned $15,094 less than men in those kinds of positions. But if part-time jobs are included, women earned $16,236 less than men in 2011, a higher pay gap than any state but Alaska. Two metropolitan areas in Utah earned a spot among the 20 metro areas with the highest pay gap between men and women. Women in the Provo-Orem metro area with full-time, year-round positions earned $20,446 less than men in 2011, the third highest gap in the country. Meanwhile, women in the Ogden-Clearfield metro area earned $17,587 less than men, the 13th largest gap.
5. Washington
- Difference in full-time, year-round income:$13,979
- Female full-time, year-round median income: $41,817 (ninth highest)
- Male full-time, year-round median income: $55,796 (sixth highest)
- 2011 unemployment rate: 9.2 percent (16th highest)
As of 2011, Washington state had one of the highest proportions of workers in professional, scientific and management positions. Women in those positions earned nearly $22,500 less than men did. In Washington’s Bremerton-Silverdale metropolitan area, women earned $18,650 less than men — the ninth biggest earnings gap among all U.S. metropolitan areas. In the state's professional, scientific and management positions, which account for a high 11.9 percent of all positions in the state, median earning for men exceeded that for women by $22,487. This was nearly $10,000 higher than the national wage gap in this industry.
Click here to read the rest of 24/7 Wall St.'s the worst-paying states for women
Leave a Comment:
There isn't a state in this country that has good wages for women.Women re still at the bottom as far as the top and technology jobs go.There are many who qualify but this is still a man's world.Population wise there are more women than men in this country yet we still have not made the strides or have had the equal opportunities to compete with the good old boy network.
Article briefly mentioned that Wyoming has a lot of mineral extraction, and hard jobs outside should pay more than some office clerk. Male dominated positions are usually more physical demanding and messy, that air conditioned office with a handy bathroom around the corner shouldnt pay the same, and thats what this article is trying to claim. Also I do notice that even when women do the same work outside they are usually short timers and quit because its is hard, messy work, short timers shouldnt be paid the same as long timers.
4 of 5 are red states.
Women, all over this great nation, STOP VOTING AGAINST YOUR OWN BEST INTERESTS ans THOSE OF YOUR DAUGHTERS!
Demand better and you will get better. Continue to demurr to the males of this nation you will continue to get pissed on.
Guess whay every member of the military with the same rank and time in service get paid the same, from the cook to the med tech.
Voting is the only legimate way to change anything! Do it every election cycle and change will come.
FORWARD
This article just made Dick Cheney's day.
I know there's a huge wage gap, but not sure this article really paints an accurate picture. This article is based on industry, not on pay for equal work. It's hard to do a fair comparison across an industry. But if you can compare job for job, with equal seniority and comparable performance, that's where the difference in pay is really problematic.
In my first real job, after I had a few years experience, my boss decided to hire another person in my department. A friend of a friend applied and did not get the job. He said the pay wasn't enough anyway, and he told me what they were offering. The LOW end of the pay scale they gave him was $8,000 a year more than what I made! I was too young and naive to do anything about it.
I do think part of the wage gap is brought on by women. Women are raised to be cooperative. Men are raised to be bold and aggressive. I think men are much better at negotiating a salary for themselves - and because of that, are more likely to actually earn more than what they're worth. Woman tend to ask for less than what they want or deserve, and thus are often paid less than what they are worth. I know that is a broad generalization, but I see it with women I work with all the time. We just want to be so nice and pleasing that we end up screwing ourselves over in pay when we bid on projects or ask for a salary.
Re: "I do think part of the wage gap is brought on by women."
And the other part of it is brought on by men. See my earlier comment.
Re: "Women tend to ask for less"
As a group, they also tend to work less:
“In 2011, 22% of male physicians and 44% of female physicians worked less than full time, up from 7% of men and 29% of women from Cejka’s 2005 survey.” http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/03/26/bil10326.htm
"The Department of Labor considers full-time employment to be 35 or more hours per week. Men are more likely to work more hours, while women are more likely to work less than 35 hours per week. In 2009, 66.6 percent of American workers working less than 35-hour workweeks were women. In comparison, just 45.1 percent of workers logging more than 35 hours a week were men."
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/20628/the-lilly-ledbetter-act-exacerbates-gender-gap-discourages-hiring
If on average you ask for less, then work less, on average you will earn less. The liberal media and women's advocates are the only two groups who do not understand that, and that's why they keep pushing for yet another law they hope will do what the previous fifty laws didn't do.
Google ERA History.
If you look at a map of the Confederate States from 1860 you will notice those
states are listed as states that have not ratified the Equal Rights for Woman
Amendment yet in 2012, along with a few more.
Check the election maps for 2008 and 2009 and you well see that they are
RED states. Along with states mentioned in this article.
They are church run, male dominated, low education levels, low on every chart for
every classification.
Heavy in religion, NRA memberships and rights for men, NOT WOMEN.
Women need to wake up and think for themselves and Vote to keep up the
fight for their rights. We last tried in 2004 and it failed, I haven't heard a
word about it since. Too many women watch Faux Noise now ?
Re: "rights for men, NOT WOMEN"
Everyone: On one side of a paper, list women's rights in both the productive sphere and the reproductive sphere, then list men's on the other side.
The reasons the list for women is longer is here:
“The Doctrinaire Institute for Women's Policy Research”
http://malemattersusa.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/the-doctrinaire-institute-for-womens-policy-research/
In "Will the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Help Women?"
http://malemattersusa.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/will-the-ledbetter-fair-pay-act-help-women/
"The Department of Labor considers full-time employment to be 35 or more hours per week. Men are more likely to work more hours, while women are more likely to work less than 35 hours per week. In 2009, 66.6 percent of American workers working less than 35-hour workweeks were women. In comparison, just 45.1 percent of workers logging more than 35 hours a week were men."
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/20628/the-lilly-ledbetter-act-exacerbates-gender-gap-discourages-hiring
Here's just one example of why on average even the most sophisticated, educated women earn less than men even in the exact same profession:
“In 2011, 22% of male physicians and 44% of female physicians worked less than full time, up from 7% of men and 29% of women from Cejka’s 2005 survey.” http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/03/26/bil10326.htm
A thousand laws won't fix that.
In fact, no law yet has closed the gender wage gap — not the 1963 Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, not Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, not the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, not the 1991 amendments to Title VII, not affirmative action (which has benefited mostly white women, who share their wealth and affirmative action benefits with white men - http://tinyurl.com/74cooen), not diversity, not the countless state and local laws and regulations, not the horde of overseers at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and not the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.... Nor will a "paycheck fairness" law work.
That's because women's pay-equity advocates, who always insist one more law is needed, continue to overlook the effects of female AND male behavior:
Despite the 40-year-old demand for women's equal pay, millions of wives still choose to have no pay at all. In fact, according to Dr. Scott Haltzman, author of "The Secrets of Happily Married Women," stay-at-home wives, including the childless who represent an estimated 10 percent, constitute a growing niche. "In the past few years,” he says in a CNN report at http://tinyurl.com/6reowj, “many women who are well educated and trained for career tracks have decided instead to stay at home.”
(“Census Bureau data show that 5.6 million mothers stayed home with their children in 2005, about 1.2 million more than did so a decade earlier....” at http://tinyurl.com/qqkaka. Consider also: "a 2007 Pew Study on working mothers revealed that 60 percent of full-time working moms would rather be part-time -- up from 48 percent 15 years ago" at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peggy-drexler/dont-call-him-mr-mom-the_b_1573895.html.)
If indeed women are staying at home at a higher rate, perhaps it's largely because feminists and the media have told women for years that female workers are paid less than men in the same jobs — so why bother working if they're going to be penalized and humiliated for being a woman.
As full-time mothers or homemakers, stay-at-home wives earn zero. How can they afford to do this while in many cases living in luxury? Because they're supported by their husband, an “employer” who pays them to stay at home.
The implication of this is probably obvious to 12-year-olds but seems incomprehensible to or is ignored by feminists and the liberal media: If millions of wives are able to accept NO wages, millions of other wives, whose husbands' incomes range from moderate to high, are able to:
-accept low wages
-refuse overtime and promotions
-choose jobs based on interest first, wages second — the reverse of what men tend to do
-take more unpaid days off
-avoid uncomfortable wage-bargaining (http://tinyurl.com/3a5nlay)
-work part-time instead of full-time
All of which lower women's median pay.
Women are able to make these choices because they are supported — or if unmarried anticipate being supported — by a husband who must earn more than if he'd chosen never to marry. (Still, even many men who shun marriage, unlike their female counterparts, feel their self worth is tied to their net worth.) This is how MEN help create the wage gap: as a group they pass up jobs that interest them for ones that pay well. If the roles were reversed so that men raised the children and women raised the income, men would average lower pay than women.
Wyoming is for steers, not men. Real men respect real women.