Employment and EarningsAdministrator2020-12-09T18:08:37-05:00

Trends in Employment and Earnings

Women’s status in the area of employment and earnings has improved on two indicators since the publication of IWPR’s last national report on the status of women, the 2004 Status of Women in the States, and remained unchanged or declined on two others. Women’s median annual earnings for full-time, year-round work in 2013 ($39,157) were nearly identical to their earnings for similar work in 2002 ($39,108 when adjusted to 2013 dollars). The gender earnings ratio improved during this time from 76.6 to 78.3 percent, narrowing the gender wage gap by 1.7 percentage points, and the share of women working in professional or managerial occupations grew from 33.2 to 39.9 percent. Women’s labor force participation rate, however, declined from 59.6 in 2002 to 57.0 percent in 2014.

BestWorst
1. District of Columbia51. Mississippi
2. Maryland50. West Virginia
3. Massachusetts49. Idaho
4. Connecticut48. Louisiana
5. New York47. Alabama
209, 2014

Washington, DC, Ranks Highest for Women’s Employment and Earnings; West Virginia Ranks Lowest

According to a new analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), states across the nation vary widely in their progress towards achieving equality for women in the workplace, with the District of Columbia ranking the highest in the nation for women’s employment and earnings, while West Virginia ranked the lowest. The analysis includes state-by-state rankings and letter grades based on a composite score of economic indicators, including women’s labor force participation, median annual earnings for women, the gender earnings ratio between women and men employed full-time and year-round, and the percentage of employed women in managerial or professional occupations. IWPR has been calculating and tracking state rankings in this area since 1996.