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
612, 2013

Job Growth for Women and Men Continues; Unemployment Rates at Five-Year Lows

According to analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), due to continued job growth in November, women hold more jobs on payrolls than ever before (women initially surpassed their previous employment peak in October). Men have regained 75 percent (4.5 million) of the jobs they lost during the recession. Of the 2.3 million jobs added to payrolls in the last year, 51 percent were filled by women, and 49 percent were filled by men. Nonetheless, men held 1.6 million more jobs than women in November.