Wage gap persists

Utah's median household income rose only slightly during the past three years, but if you were a woman, chances are you still earned significantly less than a man.

Estimates from a U.S. Census Bureau report released Tuesday show that the gender earnings gap in Utah was third-worst in the country in 2004.

The American Community Survey showed full-time, year-round working women in Utah earned an estimated 68.1 percent of their male counterparts' median earnings. Only Montana, at 67.1 percent, and Louisiana, at 67.9 percent, were estimated lower.

The U.S. Census Bureau survey of 800,000 households nationwide asked eight questions about income over the last 12 months.

Utah men earned an estimated median of $40,317, while women earned $27,471.

Utah also trailed the national wage gap. U.S. men had median earnings of $41,194, while women earned 76.2 percent of that, or $31,374.

The national figures in the survey indicate that women trailed men in earnings in every state plus the District of Columbia, never matched men's earnings at the same education levels, and came up short across all 20 industry sectors included in the survey.

Pam Perlich, senior research economist at the the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, said the state's educational attainment gap between men and woman is larger than the nation's. She said Utah has a higher percentage of men 24 and older with bachelor's degrees or better than the nation, but for women that percentage is lower.

"That shows up in income," Perlich said.

She noted that Utah women have a high fertility rate and are more likely to work part-time. Part-time jobs generally pay less than full-time.

"If women are having more children, and are not able to have as much education, and are not as able to have full-time jobs . . . that translates into lower income."

States with the least disparity were California, Vermont and Maryland. The District of Columbia had the closest match, with women earning 90.9 percent of men's median.

As for industry sectors, the largest earnings gaps were in management of companies and enterprises, where women earned 53.5 percent of men; finance and insurance, 57.5 percent; and professional, scientific and technical services, 60.3 percent.