Women’s earnings in Rhode Island were 80 percent of their male counterparts in 2003, the second-highest earnings ratio in New England and slightly above the national average ratio of 79.5 percent, according to a recent study from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Rhode Island ranks 15th in the country in its female-to-male earnings ratio. Despite the closing gap, U.S. Census and labor bureau data suggest women and men still gravitate toward certain careers.
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“The occupations women tend to be in are lower-paying than men,” said Walter Marshall, an economist for the labor bureau in Boston. “The number of women who are computer engineers (is small). It’s mostly men. Women also tend to have a higher concentration in social services and education.”
Women in the United States are making a larger percentage of what men are earning now when compared to what they made in 1979 (63 percent), the first year the labor bureau collected data on male-female earnings comparisons. While the margin has narrowed, wide variations still exist, from a high of 95.1 percent in the District of Columbia to 65.3 percent in Wyoming.
According to the bureau, the disparity of earnings between men and women is less variable in New England than the rest of the country. Vermont has the highest earnings rate for women, who earn 82.4 percent of what their male counterparts make. Rhode Island comes in second in the region, followed by Massachusetts at 78 percent, Maine at 76.9 percent, Connecticut at 74.1 percent and New Hampshire at 72.1 percent.
“As a whole, Rhode Island obviously ranks almost equal to the national average,” Marshall said. “This is based on a number of things – the types of industry in the area, the types of jobs in these industries, and the higher cost of living. This gives us a good snapshot of where women are currently.”
According to Marshall, Rhode Island’s earnings ratio might be higher because of the higher cost of living in the state, although the cost of living is considered higher in Massachusetts and the male-to-female earnings ratio there is less than in Rhode Island.
There is also more of a disparity among age groups, he said. Younger men and women tend to make more equal salaries, whereas in the 50-plus age group, there tends to be larger gaps, which commensurate with experience and time taken off from work to have children and raise families.
Full-time female workers in Rhode Island have been making approximately $10,000 less than their male counterparts since 2000, according to the American Community Survey, which updates Census information yearly. In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that women made $32,498, compared to men who made $42,605. Since 2000, women’s average annual wages have hovered around $30,000 and men’s around $40,000. In 2002, the bureau reported that women made $31,245 compared to men’s $41,995; in 2001 women earned $30,899 compared to men’s $40,898; and in 2000 the bureau reported that women made $29,289 and men made $39,871. And while women are entering more varied professions, old habits seem to die hard in Rhode Island.
The majority of women in the state still work in par professional fields – 9,701 women or 83.5 percent. The other areas with high concentrations of female workers were professional, with 66.2 percent of the population, compared to 33.8 percent of men; and administrative, support, clerical and sales positions. According to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 64 percent of the female population, or 86,818 women, work in this profession, compared to 36 percent of men.
Women, however, aren’t the only ones with a tendency toward stereotypical jobs. According to the bureau, the majority of men remain in male-oriented careers, including protective service workers (83.4 percent); skilled craft workers (77.7 percent); and technicians (63.3 percent).
“We still have typically male-female roles in jobs,” said Mark Brown, principal planner for Statewide Planning. “A lot of the hotel industry … is predominantly female, so there are factors working against the numbers.”
In Rhode Island, the earnings ratio between men and women has remained constant, from 1997, when the labor bureau started tracking Rhode Island statistics, until 2003. Nationally, there has been a slow but steady upward trend, Marshall said, from 74.4 percent in 1997 to almost 80 percent in 2003.
“It shows that women are definitely making strides,” he said. “Thirty years ago there were certain industries that women went into.”
The higher ratios, according to Marshall, are largely due to changes from generation to generation. More women are getting college and higher degrees, and some are working mothers. As to whether men’s and women’s wages might someday meet, the economist said it could happen, if fewer women took time off for raising families, and began to gravitate toward more technical professions.
