Alaska’s women are making progress in getting paid at the same rate as its men, but the progress has been exceedingly slow, said economist Caroline Schultz.
“The gap is closing very slowly,” she said. “At the rate they are going we’re not going to achieve pay or earnings parity any time soon.”
The study by the Department of Labor & Workforce Development’s Research and Analysis Section, published in this month’s Labor Trends magazine, determined Alaska’s women make 67 cents for every dollar earned by men.
The study is one of a series done every two years since 1988.
The 2010 study shows an increase of 2 cents on the dollar from 2008, but a gain of only about 5.5 cents since the first study was done in 1988.
The average Alaskan man earned $43,684 in 2010, compared to $29,323 for women, a difference of $14,361.
Schultz’ study looked at a number of factors that appeared to play a role in the differences, such as occupational and regional variations, but concluded the difference was not easy to explain.
The state’s highest paying industries — including manufacturing, natural resources and mining — are mostly dominated by men.
Jobs such as miners, mobile heavy equipment mechanics and electrical power line installers pay much better than state average wages, but have few women earning those wages, state employment data show.
The mobile heavy equipment mechanics field, for example, had a workforce of only 2 percent women, so while it paid, on average, $57,520, there were only 12 women doing that work, compared to 772 men.
A big part of Alaska’s wage disparity stems from the kind of jobs here, and who does them, Schultz said. That’s especially true in private industry jobs.
“Although natural resources and mining employed just 5 percent of Alaska workers last year, it had a disproportionate effect on the earnings gap,” she said.
Excluding those jobs, the difference in private sector wages would rise from 63 percent to 79 percent, she said.
Government jobs tended to have pay scales that were more closely equivalent among men and women, but that didn’t always boost women’s earnings.
Female office clerks, for example, earned almost exactly the same amount, as did male office clerks, but that amounted to only $17,220 per year. Of those holding office clerk positions, 78 percent were female.
“Women seem to be funneled into lower pay occupations,” Schultz said.
While government pay rates tend to be more equal, state government lagged local government in achieving parity, she said.
Women in Juneau earned more than women did statewide, on average earning 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. That trails places such as Bethel, which at 94 percent was closest to parity of any location in the state. Local government is the largest single employer there.
The widest disparity in earnings was in areas where the economy was dominated by natural resource or mining jobs, she said. The Denali Borough contains Healy and its Usibelli Coal Mine and had the widest income disparity, followed by the North Slope Borough, home of Prudhoe Bay.
“Women made less money than men in every major industry group in Alaska,” Schultz said, though in some specific occupations they made more.
In health care women saw some of the strongest salaries, with female obstetricians/gynecologists making twice what their male peers made.
Schultz said she expected the office to do an update of the study in two years.
Location Percentage
Bethel 94
Juneau 79
Matanuska-Susitna 75
Ketchikan Gateway 73
Anchorage 71
Fairbanks North Star 56
Denali 46
Note: Data from 2010
Source: Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Research and Analysis Section
• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or at patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.
Comments (29)
Add commentWho is the dastardly
Who is the dastardly individual(s) "funneling" women into lower paying jobs?
Honestly, there is NO news here, just some leftist trying to concocted a outrage, when the only thing really going on is that men tend to work in fields that pay more!
If a woman wants to earn what a miner earns,become a miner! Don't snivel.
side by side
"In health care women saw some of the strongest salaries, with female obstetricians/gynecologists making twice what their male peers made."
Demand equality.
@madison89: somehow I don't
@madison89: somehow I don't think the disparity in pay is due to women not wanting to be miners or loggers. But I hate to spoil your delusions, so carry on.
Fake Issue
Name one job that pays a man more than a woman for the same job. You can't. This is just a fake urban legend from the 1960s.
Ospreyy and MADison89...did you read the article?
There is actually a nifty chart by industry based on payroll statistics.
And here is a direct quote "“Although natural resources and mining employed just 5 percent of Alaska workers last year, it had a disproportionate effect on the earnings gap,” she said."
Urban legend:
I have to agree with Ospreyy on this one. Let’s look at a state or federal jobs. You have pay grades and steps. If male/women are both a grade 12 step 10 they both make the same wage, only if they are working in the same field though. Now that might be different picking cabbage in some field. However I do have a hard time with that graph.
You guys have a hard time
You guys have a hard time with many facts that don't fit your worldview.
In reality, even with a government pay scale, women still get paid less because of children. Women don't get paid for maternity leave, they are expected to be the ones to take off work when the kid gets sick, and just having kids promotes a bias in eyes of a potential employer. This is a social problem that impedes the advancement of women in the workplace.
Skewed facts
This is a worthless study and I wonder how many tax dollars were spent coming up with these skewed figures. Articles like this are nothing more than a headline to attract readers/viewers. I would like to get rid of that evil "funnel"
So my wife spent 12 years
So my wife spent 12 years staying home taking care children. She entered the "workforce" much later than most. Therefore she makes a fraction of the money I make at this point.
Is she being discriminated against for being a woman?
Should we sue the sexist establishment?
Should I be punished for being a man?
I have never seen any evidence that men and women who make the same career choices are paid differently and that is what counts in my humble opinion.
Men and women are drawn to different types of jobs and that is biology and not some social conspiracy against women.
What:
“In reality, even with a government pay scale, women still get paid less because of children.”
What the heck are you talking about? Makes no sense what so ever. So now it’s the children
who are causing the pay dispute?
If both are on the same pay scale, both make the same amount of leave annual or sick what's the problem? If a woman takes off work for a sick child or maternity, use that leave. You are still getting paid the same. Or don’t have children at all if that is a big concern here.
I believe Myself explained it well in his comment.
There are many factors that are affecting these statistics...
As a number of people here have commented on, there are so many external factors built in to these statistics that this subject will remain a 'urban legend' for the foreseeable future. Jobs, careers, and lifestyles vary between men and women so much that it is flawed to assume that the value of work or social position is the same to each sex. So - a direct comparison between the two is inappropriate.
I have found in general, it is ineffective to judge people by economic status. In Juneau, there is a saying, that 'it's not what you know, it's who you know!' - There is no level playing field anyway and people shouldn't be so fascinated with social/financial status. I really cannot think of a real value for this type of study, other than some rather vague amusement about how these numbers change over time. I cannot think of any really solid conclusions a person can come up with this study.
Whenever a hiring manager starts thinking of hiring a person for a job, and sex becomes a factor, they are off the track as far as I am concerned. The best person should get hired for the job, irregardless of sex & social networking status.
I think we're all missing the
I think we're all missing the most important fact brought forth by this article, which is that Caroline Schultz is a real cutie-pie.
"Progress", or digress?
I'm pretty darn liberal, but the suggestion that wages between the sexes should be essentially equal, regardless of occupation, strikes me as misguided.
Equal pay for the same work, and equal opportunity, are appropriate considerations.
A better comparison would be
A better comparison would be job-to-job rather than an entire industry. That's much too broad to draw any meaningful conclusions.
You'll notice that the physically demanding industries have the greatest disparity. No matter how badly the progressives want to make everyone equal - the fact of the matter is, men and women are different.
So, p, what's the solution to the "social problem" of children? No more children?
I have personally not gotten
I have personally not gotten a job due to race, I have applied for jobs which I was wasy over qualified, but told the hiring manager only hires women, as she prefers an all female workforce, etc. As the most widely discriminated against demographic, the young white male, I have to disagree with this study.
Anecdotes
Nice use of anecdotal evidence to disprove a statistical fact.
Interesting
My wife actually made one dollar more then me this last season and she is a professional truck driver. She makes 80 and I make 80 a year, but she does a job that 99 percent of woman just cant do period. We are definitely not the average. But i would say that if they want to get paid more, then work harder. That's how we do it, and it works for us... I think it also has something to do with work ethic and most girls are afraid to get dirty or be around dangerous circumstances. So men typically get paid more because we live for that kind of thing. Cool article though.
Uh oh. Methinks some people
Uh oh. Methinks some people doth protest too much about this study. Men getting angry at women pointing out this disparity is as old as the origins of this injustice! The more you harange about this 'lie', the more guilty you appear. As was said before, carry on!
This is an outrage!
I demand a cut in pay to fix this problem!
I agree with Arbitrary Squid, the only take away here is how hot Caroline is. Otherwise, I see no value in this study. BooHoo, life is not fair.
Alaska Men Choose Respect?
Misogyny is alive and well I see. How suprising (yawn). A poorly written article just helped illustrate what women are up against.
You do understand that women not getting fair pay doesn't just affect them, right? The guy who used his wife as an example should think about what it means that his wife doesn't make as much as a man now that she's in the workforce. It means the family's income isn't what it could be. It means our sisters, daughters, mothers, neices, aunts, and grammas are not able to contribute as much to their household incomes. It means a lower standard of living for all, not just women.
And let's think about the attitudes expressed here ... although I doubt a correlation could be drawn directly between the misogny here and Alaska's statistics on rape and domestic violence, I'd say it's an indicator about how Alaska "men" treat women in general.
Between the comments about Caroline's looks to the suggestion under a JE pic that a woman playing guitar for money should instead try prostitution, I'd say many Alaska men don't have the first notion about the meaning of respect. Pathetic.
Perhaps a better article on gender wage inequality...
Men and women don't make the same amount of money even when they work in the same sector, although in some sectors, the difference is less than in others.
If you really are interested in learning more about this topic, check out this link to a really cool chart by the US Bureau of Labor that explains things a little better in general. I cannot speak to whether the gender wage gap for Alaskan women is wider than that of US women in general because the article above isn't clear as to what premise was used for the study.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/the-gender-pay-gap-by-indus...
Good on ya, Ich Rauche
Good on ya, Ich Rauche
Ha
Because I got stoned, because i got stoned, Because I got Stonoooooonnnned....Too funny
Women can earn as much as
Women can earn as much as men. All that's required is for them to do the same work as men; however don't expect to do the same work with "accommodations" because they are women. I'm a woman and every woman I know earns as much, if not more, than their male counterparts. I have always earned more money than my husband. Doesn't matter to him, doesn't matter to me. All the money goes into one account and we take care of what needs to be paid. Women need to quit whining about this crap because it's up to them to do something about it if they want. Want the same money? Put your big girl panties on and do the same job.
(yawn)
I am so tired of this.
Of all the places I've worked in the last 20 years men and women earned the same cash for the same job.
And I have no sympathy to the claim that women make less because they make babies and don't get paid for maternity leave. They had control over their decision to make babies, and their lifestyle choices affect their salary.
But if we were to allow women paid time off for making babies, isn't that discriminatory towards single men who chose not to have babies? Of course it is.
So either stop whining, or stop making babies. Choose a career or a family. And if you choose both, you lose your right to whine about disparities in salary because you need more time off than your co-workers to devote to your family.
Bizarro World
I guess that's where we are: IceQueen is channeling Sarah Palin and Jo is channeling Pat Robertson. Wow.
There's lots of anecdotes flying around as if one person's experience can be extrapolated to the general population. A common error one would learn about in an entry level statistics class.
There are lots of reasons and some of them are pretty valid. America has a pretty poor track record when it comes to women's rights. Currently, we are sitting at 90th in terms of countries who have women elected to national office. We have 3-5% women CEOs. Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is just one example of trying to address what women have to face.
IceQueen - you are fortunate, nothing more, nothing less. I am sure you work hard and deserve every cent you get with your "big girl panties" on but many women work just as hard and get passed over time and again for promotions and pay raises.
Jo - single men are not discriminated against. If one chose to adopt a baby, they would get leave under the Family Leave and Medical Act. Keep in mind that even with maternity leave, it is unpaid unless the woman has a job with leave and an accumulated balance.
We give lots of lip service to family values in this country but it's clear from the reaction to this article that our puritanical roots are alive and well. It's the woman's job to decide between career and family and she alone should take responsibility for the fact that she got pregnant. Men are not expected to make that choice and certainly aren't berated at any length about their responsibility. We saw it on the campaign trail during the 2008 elections and it obviously hasn't gotten any better.
I'm also tired of anyone who
I'm also tired of anyone who feels slighted have a paid govt position to do a study to prove how poor they are. Im a young white male paying taxes, having a decent job and own several businesses. No one paid for my college, I wasn't given any grants to start my businesses, I dont get any special training at my job due to my race or gender. Everything I have is due to hard work and luck. It all applies equally. Yes there are still a few old codgers who won't hire a woman or a black or whatever. Most of those died out in the last century. Just wait, the last few stragglers will drop dead soon enough. Feel free to succeed bsed on your own merits and hard work and luck.
@kpawsuh
you're contradicting yourself a bit. you recently argued that all Alaska citizens are subsidized to some degree by the feds and you're not an exception. yes, i'm sure you worked very hard and nobody gave you anything literally - but as a young white male, your demographic doesn't have a history of repression and being denied access. that's a bonus you got by the good fortune of your birth, but it's nothing you actually earned.
women cannot succeed on their own merits if those merits aren't recognized to begin with. in fact, as i stated above, it's clear that attitudes about women are intricately tied to their worth primarily as sexual beings to gratify men. you took part in that conversation with ich about how the guitar-playing woman could earn more money prostituting herself. her greatest worth is in her ability to provide a sexual service. these are subconscious biases we all carry - and women are no exception.
there are an incredible amount of studies to show how subconscious biases play into keeping women below men in terms of salary, opportunity, etc. if you are truly interested in learning about this issue and how it will most definitely affect your daughters and your wife, there's plenty of material. if not, at least don't pretend they don't exist by believing women will just get a fair shake if they only work harder. most single parents are women, most victims of domestic violence are women, most rape victims are women, and women have little to no representation in elected offices, in corporations, in board rooms. to be sure, women are not powerless, but they certainly aren't allowed on the same playing field as men.
i'm sorry if you as an individual were discriminated against. as a whole, the white male has had it pretty darn good.
All I did was ask if Ich was
All I did was ask if Ich was referring to the oldest profession. Women have their own biases about men. True, women have to deal with single parenthood although suprisingly I know of several single dads here in town. There definitely needs to be more responsibility on all sides of that issue. Sometimes it a deadbeat dad, othertimes its a mom who wants a kid but not a hubby. Theres more to it than just deadbeat dads. If its in government, they are all on the same payscale, but there are specific programs for women in govt, blacks in govt, black women in govt, etc. There is no white male in govt program. Ya dig? There are scholarships for every creed, color, persuasion all based on that, not academics, but mine it was "I see you don't have a 4.0? Have a nice day" And I got a job to pay for my own schooling. There are definitely still some stumbling blocks, but there are many many handups too. If its all equal, then I should be able to have a college that only accepts white males and give scholarships to them just for being white and male. I can hear the lawyers salivating right now! Perhaps if the woman and guy both have state jobs in the same pay grade maybe one might get promoted over the other, but it all depends. I have seem women get the promotion over the guy. Other offices I have seen the guy get it over the woman. Of course you never know if she botched the interview or vis a versa. It just easier to say its this big conspiracy and that your demographic is getting the short end.
spiff, thank you for tackling this issue
I'm a bit speechless at the suggestion that there is no problem here, or even more appalling, that we blame the victims (women) for their situation.
I'm going to go walk the dogs.
Mike