Learn2earn Article Directory

The disparity in pay between men and women working full time widened in 2003 for the first time in four years as women saw their incomes fall, the government said Thursday.

For every dollar a man made in 2003, women made 75.5 cents, the Census Bureau said in its annual report on income. That was down from the record 76.6 cents that women earned vs. men's $1 in 2002. The median income for men working full time in 2003 was $40,668, not significantly different from the prior year, while the median income for women working full time was $30,724, down 0.6% from 2002.

While the drop might appear minor, it was the first statistically significant decline in women's incomes since 1995, the Census Bureau said.

The median is the point at which half of the numbers fall above and half fall below.The widening pay disparity came as a surprise, and analysts had few explanations for what could have sparked the change. But they cautioned against getting too worked up about the increased gap, noting last year could have been an aberration.

"The numbers do fluctuate a lot year-to-year, so I wouldn't call it a trend until I saw one more year," says Joyce Jacobsen, economics professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn.

Still, Jacobsen said the numbers were "discouraging," noting it would have been better if women's pay had at least stayed unchanged.

Vicky Lovell, study director for the Institute for Women's Policy Research, called the decline in women's incomes "very worrisome," particularly in light of the increased dependence on women as breadwinners.

"It does suggest that some of the gains women had been making relative to men, they are now losing," she says. "The recession may be officially over, but women are still feeling the effects of the economic slowdown."

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. In case security code not visible or you entered wrong code,just refresh the page!
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
BBCode:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments

Article © Copyright 2007 by earnerz www.earnerz.com
All right reserved