from the St Louis Fed
— this post authored by Charles Gascon, Regional Economist, and Lowell Ricketts, Lead Analyst
In the early 1980s, the earnings gap for women was 63 percent. That is, real median annual earnings for a man working full-time were about $52,000, while median earnings for a woman were about $33,000, or about 63 percent of what a man earned.
Over the past 30 years, this earnings gap has narrowed 17 percentage points to an average of 80 percent.[2] Economists have identified numerous factors contributing to the narrowing gap, including:
Increases in the labor force participation rate of women
Most notably, the educational attainment of women, which now surpasses that of men
The result has been an increased share of women in higher-paid professional occupations, although women are still underrepresented in the occupations with the highest earnings.[3]
Regional Trends in the Gender Pay Gap
The Eighth Federal Reserve District economy typically resembles the national economy when comparing most major economic indicators. In many ways, local measures of earnings inequality have followed a similar trend as the nation.
In the early 1980s, Missouri had the largest gap in the District at 58 percent, or about 5 percentage points below the national average. Arkansas and Mississippi had the narrowest gaps at 65 percent. Earnings gaps across the District have generally converged since then, with the areas with the largest gaps narrowing faster.
Differing Paths Toward Pay Equality
In recent years, regional earnings gaps have been very close to the national rate of 80 percent. However, the dynamics of how each region evolved to this point were very different.
As shown in the table below, women’s real earnings increased about 20 percent over the past 30 years on a national level, while men’s earnings declined about 5 percent.
1981-85
2011-15
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