From the National Partnership for Women and Families, using their Alaska Fact Sheet: "In Alaska, on average, a woman working full time is paid $39,017 per year, while a man working full time is paid $51,019 per year. This creates a wage gap of $12,002 between full-time working men and women in the state." That means women in Alaska earned 76.5% of what men earn, on average, in 2009. That's roughly the same as the national rate.
The fact sheet also notes: "The women of Alaska are increasingly responsible for the economic security of their families and cannot afford to face discrimination and lower wages.
- Nearly 64 percent of working mothers in Alaska bring in more than a quarter of their families’ income, and 27,017 households in Alaska are headed by women.
- Nearly 22 percent of women-headed households in Alaska live below the poverty level. Eliminating the wage gap would provide critical income to 5,916 families living in poverty."
A related report from the feds, Women in America 2011: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being, presents some good news to go along with the bad, perhaps most importany that nationally, younger women are more likely than younger men to have a college degree.
Comments