Census Bureau

The gap between women’s and men’s pay remained about the same for the fourth straight year in 2011, as both genders got slammed by lower wages.

Women earned 77 cents for every dollar a man earned in 2011, the Census Bureau said this week as part of its extensive annual report on income and poverty.

The female-to-male earnings ratio for full-time workers has been little changed for four years, after hitting a record high of 78 percent in 2007.

Experts say the latest figures show that women aren’t making significant gains in terms of earning power – but men aren’t either.

"It’s not that gap is not closing,” said Katherine Gallagher Robbins, senior policy analyst with the National Women’s Law Center. “It’s that wages are sort of flattening.”

For men who work full-time and year-round, inflation-adjusted median earnings fell about 2.5 percent between 2010 and 2011, to $48,202, according to the Census Bureau. For women working full-time, the median, or midpoint, of annual earnings also fell by about 2.5 percent, to $37,118.

Experts say that there are other factors at work besides the lousy job market. The wage gap narrowed slowly and in fits and starts through the 1980s and 1990s, but further gains have been tough to come by.

“As a broad trend, I think we have plateaued in a way, or we may have plateaued,” said Ariane Hegewisch, study director with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Women still face some big hurdles, especially those who want to have children and still advance in their careers, she said. Child care can be quite expensive, and some women may not be willing to put in the long hours required to make it to the top when their children are young.

The wage gap has persisted even though women have made huge inroads in traditionally male-dominated fields and positions. There have been several high-profile examples of that phenomenon, including Yahoo Inc.’s decision to appoint a pregnant Marissa Mayer to the role of chief executive.

Despite such gains, research shows that women generally take home less money each week even when they are doing the same job.

Women also now get postsecondary degrees at higher rates than men, and more education generally translates into higher earnings over the course of a lifetime. But experts note that what people study, and the fields they go into, matters as well.

“There’s a huge gender segregation there,” Hegewisch said. “Men get more technical (degrees) and women are in education and social work and the kind of softer sciences, and they pay less.”

The recession of 2007-09 was so hard on male-dominated fields such as construction that some referred to it as the mancession.  With men hit so hard, 38 percent of women outearned their husbands in 2009, a 3 percentage point increase from 2008.

But as the economy began recovering in 2009, it was women who fared worse in the job market. 

The situation has since become more of a mixed bag. In August, the unemployment rate for men was 8.3 percent. For women, it was 7.8 percent.

“I think the story right now is that everyone is struggling,” Robbins said. “Often when people think about the wage gap they think about it as women as compared to men. A lot of (families) have both women and men who are working. We think of it as a family security issue.”

Related: States with the biggest wage gap between men, women 

There’s an awkward pause that happens right after you ask your boss for a raise. 

What ever you do, don’t say anything.

“Silence is a power leveler,” said Selena Rezvani, negotiation expert and author of the recently released “Pushback: How Smart Women Ask--and Stand Up--for What They Want,” during our live Web chat Wednesday.

“Silence is one of the most under-used tactics in a negotiation,” she pointed out. “I'm talking about using this strategically. For example, being quiet right after you make your request, and being quiet again for a few seconds when you get your answer.”

Asking for more money is one of the toughest things employees have to do, but now may be the best time because many employers are handing out more pay raises. 

Rezvani offered advice on how to ask for everything from a raise to more vacations time during our live Web chat. Here’s a sampling of her answers to readers questions:

Renee asked:

“I have been at my job for two years and have never had a raise even mentioned to me. I feel I am valuable to my company with all I contribute. Fellow employees have told me that our company rarely gives raises, some have even said they wait 4 years for a raise. How can I approach my boss about this?”

Rezvani answered:

“First off, don't wait to be asked about your raise! It's best if you bring it up. I am not a fan of waiting until review time... If you have a strong case, make it anytime of the year, but preferably right after a big accomplishment.

“Also, don't be frightened out of asking for a raise just because no one else is doing it or "it's not done around here." If anything, there is less of a trend toward rewarding every employee the same exact way. Show why you specifically deserve this raise and how you can contribute at even higher levels in the future.”

Jay asked:

“How do you negotiate with an employer for more vacation time when they say it is non-negotiable during an interview?”

Rezvani answered:

“Vacation time is often negotiable - even when people say it's not. It all depends on how much they want you. If it's something you're emphatic about, tell them. But have an alternative or second-best outcome if they continually push back.

“Come up with options. If you're first choice is 30 vacation days, ask for that first. If they push back, try 28 days with reimbursement for a $1,000 training course. Your third option could be 25 days, a training course, and something else of value to you.”

For more of this enlightening discussion and targeted tips for employees trying to negotiate better, check out a replay of the Web chat here:

Young adults may be facing their own version of “The Hunger Games” when entering the workforce today because they’re probably going to be hungry for more money.

Wages for young workers have been declining for more than a decade. They fell off a cliff during the Great Recession to levels not seen since the 1970s for certain groups of entry-level workers, according to new data from center-left think tank the Economic Policy Institute.

(OK, maybe it’s not exactly “The Hunger Games” just yet. In that dystopian future, depicted in a trilogy of novels and now a movie, a reality TV show follows teens fighting to their death, with the winner earning food for his/her home state. But you get our point.)

Not surprisingly, the news is worse for those with less education; and the pay gap between entry level men and women no matter what the education level is still alive and well.

Entry-level wages for high school graduates were actually lower than they were in the 1970s. For college grads, starting wages were below what their counterparts pocketed in the late 1990s. Today, the average wage for all these young adults, no matter education level, is about $15 an hour.

And whether they have a college degree or not, women still aren’t bringing home as much bacon as the men, but the gap has been narrowing. The good news, unfortunately, is partly attributable to the fact that the guys are getting paid less because of the economy.

“When the labor market is strong for workers the prospects for young workers are very strong, and when the labor market is weak their prospects are very weak,” maintained the Institute’s president Lawrence Mishel about the data that’s part of his forthcoming book ‘The State of Working America” due out in August. “The recent decade affirms this general finding, as the wages of entry-level workers have fared extremely poorly during this period of general wage stagnation.”

Here’s a breakdown of the numbers:

• The entry-level hourly wage of a young male high school graduate in 2011 was 25.3 percent less than that for the equivalent worker in 1979, a drop of roughly $4.00 per hour in 2011.
• Among women, the entry-level high school wage fell 14.2 percent over the same period, and dropped by $1.64 last year.
• Wages for high-school educated women are still far below those of their male counterparts, a gap of 15 percent.
• In 2011 the hourly wage of entry-level male college graduates was just a bit over $1.00 higher than in 1979, a rise of 5.2 percent over thirty-two years.
• Women college grads did better, with their wages growing by 15.4 percent, or $2.50, from 1979 to 2011.
• The gender pay gap among this group, however, still persists. The hourly wage for college educated men was $21.68 in 2011, compared with $18.80 for women.

Too bad young adults don't qualify for child ticket prices anymore. Adult tickets for the upcoming "The Hunger Games" movie are going for $11 a pop.