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13-101-PHI
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
In 2011, Virginia women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median weekly earnings of $745 or 80.5 percent of the $925 median weekly earnings for their male counterparts, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio in Virginia rose 5.3 percentage points in 2011. Nationwide, women earned $684 or 82.2 percent of the $832 median for men. (See table 1. Earnings in this report do not control for many factors that can be significant in explaining earnings differences.)
In Virginia, the ratio of women’s to men’s earnings has fluctuated considerably since 1997, ranging from a low of 72.4 percent in 2000 to a high of 81.7 percent just two years later. The ratio in 2011 was 1.2 percentage points lower than the high reached in 2002. (See chart 1.)
Among the 50 states, median weekly earnings of women in full-time wage and salary positions in 2011 ranged from $564 in Montana to $878 in Connecticut. States with the highest wages for women were located along the Eastern Seaboard. In addition to Connecticut, women in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Maryland also had wages above $800. (See table 1 and chart 2.)
Across the nation, median weekly earnings for men were lowest in Arkansas at $675 and highest in Connecticut at $1,106. Five of the seven states with wages above $950 for full-time male workers (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Maryland) were located along or close to the east coast. The two exceptions were in the Northwest—Alaska and Washington.
The ratio of female-to-male earnings in 2011 varied across the nation, ranging from 68.7 percent in Louisiana to 89.9 percent in California. Two other Western states followed California in the ranking—Arizona at 88.5 percent and Nevada at 88.4 percent. (See chart 3.) The differences among the states reflect, in part, variation in the occupations and industries found in each state and in the age composition of each state’s labor force. In addition, comparisons by sex are on a broad level and do not control for factors such as educational attainment, which can be significant in explaining earnings differences.
For more information on the median weekly earnings of women and men, see Bureau of Labor Statistics Report 1038, “Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2011,” issued in October 2012; copies are available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cps/cpswom2011.pdf. Information in this release is also available to sensory impaired individuals. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.
The estimates in this report were obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which provides a wide range of information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment. This survey is conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau, using a national sample of about 60,000 households, with coverage in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The earnings data are collected from one-fourth of the CPS monthly sample.
Statistics based on the CPS data are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. The differences among data for the states reflect, in part, variations in the occupation, industry, and age composition of each state’s labor force. In addition, sampling error for the state estimates is considerably larger than it is for the national data.
The principal definitions used in connection with the earnings series in this release are described below.
Usual weekly earnings. Data represent earnings before taxes and other deductions and include any overtime pay, commissions, or tips usually received (at the main job in the case of multiple jobholders.)
Median weekly earnings. The median is the amount which divides a given earnings distribution into two equal groups, one having earnings above the median and the other having earnings below the median.
Wage and salary workers. Workers who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, payment in kind, or piece rates. The group includes employees in both the private and public sectors but, for the purposes of the earnings series, excludes all self-employed persons, regardless of whether or not their businesses are incorporated.
Full-time worker. Workers who usually work 35 hours or more per week at their sole or principal job.
State | Both sexes | Women | Men | Women's earnings as percent of men's | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of workers (thousands) | Median weekly earnings | Standard error of median | Number of workers (thousands) | Median weekly earnings | Standard error of median | Number of workers (thousands) | Median weekly earnings | Standard error of median | ||
United States |
100,457 | $756 | $2 | 44,486 | $684 | $3 | 55,971 | $832 | $3 | 82.2 |
Alabama |
1,476 | 680 | 14 | 675 | 595 | 13 | 801 | 753 | 19 | 79.0 |
Alaska |
254 | 822 | 18 | 110 | 730 | 16 | 144 | 967 | 24 | 75.5 |
Arizona |
1,984 | 741 | 12 | 866 | 694 | 25 | 1,117 | 784 | 21 | 88.5 |
Arkansas |
923 | 617 | 10 | 419 | 567 | 19 | 504 | 675 | 20 | 84.0 |
California |
10,981 | 794 | 9 | 4,614 | 751 | 9 | 6,367 | 835 | 15 | 89.9 |
Colorado |
1,724 | 845 | 17 | 716 | 740 | 16 | 1,008 | 930 | 20 | 79.6 |
Connecticut |
1,197 | 988 | 24 | 526 | 878 | 33 | 671 | 1,106 | 49 | 79.4 |
Delaware |
309 | 768 | 18 | 144 | 719 | 22 | 165 | 844 | 29 | 85.2 |
District of Columbia |
253 | 1,046 | 37 | 127 | 950 | 25 | 126 | 1,151 | 22 | 82.5 |
Florida |
6,041 | 736 | 6 | 2,869 | 668 | 9 | 3,172 | 797 | 14 | 83.8 |
Georgia |
3,250 | 723 | 13 | 1,504 | 641 | 14 | 1,746 | 800 | 19 | 80.1 |
Hawaii |
422 | 738 | 15 | 201 | 657 | 16 | 221 | 842 | 29 | 78.0 |
Idaho |
450 | 700 | 13 | 178 | 604 | 10 | 271 | 769 | 19 | 78.5 |
Illinois |
4,293 | 784 | 11 | 1,878 | 691 | 18 | 2,415 | 889 | 18 | 77.7 |
Indiana |
2,125 | 708 | 13 | 881 | 607 | 12 | 1,244 | 799 | 24 | 76.0 |
Iowa |
1,080 | 721 | 13 | 489 | 656 | 16 | 591 | 799 | 22 | 82.1 |
Kansas |
1,020 | 722 | 13 | 453 | 640 | 19 | 566 | 811 | 20 | 78.9 |
Kentucky |
1,368 | 688 | 15 | 633 | 613 | 14 | 735 | 747 | 14 | 82.1 |
Louisiana |
1,423 | 709 | 23 | 633 | 592 | 13 | 790 | 862 | 33 | 68.7 |
Maine |
418 | 714 | 14 | 191 | 636 | 19 | 227 | 795 | 24 | 80.0 |
Maryland |
2,146 | 885 | 24 | 1,014 | 815 | 25 | 1,132 | 963 | 27 | 84.6 |
Massachusetts |
2,190 | 956 | 16 | 959 | 853 | 18 | 1,231 | 1,058 | 19 | 80.6 |
Michigan |
2,857 | 781 | 11 | 1,252 | 685 | 18 | 1,605 | 867 | 22 | 79.0 |
Minnesota |
1,835 | 833 | 18 | 794 | 743 | 18 | 1,042 | 921 | 21 | 80.7 |
Mississippi |
887 | 644 | 13 | 418 | 582 | 17 | 469 | 716 | 25 | 81.3 |
Missouri |
2,036 | 733 | 13 | 955 | 628 | 15 | 1,081 | 841 | 20 | 74.7 |
Montana |
288 | 623 | 12 | 135 | 564 | 13 | 153 | 725 | 21 | 77.8 |
Nebraska |
659 | 701 | 14 | 301 | 631 | 21 | 358 | 755 | 19 | 83.6 |
Nevada |
841 | 697 | 13 | 364 | 650 | 16 | 477 | 735 | 15 | 88.4 |
New Hampshire |
482 | 862 | 18 | 213 | 748 | 19 | 269 | 977 | 25 | 76.6 |
New Jersey |
3,090 | 926 | 15 | 1,373 | 831 | 20 | 1,717 | 997 | 22 | 83.4 |
New Mexico |
576 | 734 | 12 | 253 | 649 | 16 | 323 | 774 | 18 | 83.9 |
New York |
6,552 | 826 | 10 | 3,005 | 760 | 8 | 3,547 | 894 | 15 | 85.0 |
North Carolina |
2,954 | 687 | 13 | 1,373 | 630 | 11 | 1,581 | 751 | 14 | 83.9 |
North Dakota |
249 | 718 | 14 | 109 | 621 | 12 | 140 | 810 | 25 | 76.7 |
Ohio |
3,674 | 742 | 8 | 1,602 | 669 | 13 | 2,072 | 800 | 14 | 83.6 |
Oklahoma |
1,237 | 677 | 15 | 534 | 601 | 13 | 703 | 765 | 16 | 78.6 |
Oregon |
1,167 | 774 | 19 | 511 | 701 | 16 | 656 | 877 | 23 | 79.9 |
Pennsylvania |
4,242 | 760 | 8 | 1,858 | 680 | 12 | 2,384 | 833 | 15 | 81.6 |
Rhode Island |
343 | 830 | 21 | 159 | 746 | 27 | 183 | 917 | 30 | 81.4 |
South Carolina |
1,396 | 650 | 15 | 660 | 585 | 13 | 736 | 742 | 23 | 78.8 |
South Dakota |
286 | 660 | 12 | 133 | 602 | 9 | 152 | 730 | 16 | 82.5 |
Tennessee |
2,059 | 655 | 13 | 919 | 605 | 12 | 1,140 | 712 | 19 | 85.0 |
Texas |
8,634 | 680 | 7 | 3,694 | 619 | 8 | 4,940 | 730 | 9 | 84.8 |
Utah |
880 | 718 | 11 | 336 | 615 | 13 | 544 | 847 | 32 | 72.6 |
Vermont |
221 | 753 | 12 | 99 | 704 | 17 | 122 | 819 | 29 | 86.0 |
Virginia |
2,926 | 831 | 19 | 1,317 | 745 | 16 | 1,610 | 925 | 25 | 80.5 |
Washington |
2,126 | 877 | 21 | 877 | 743 | 18 | 1,249 | 997 | 21 | 74.5 |
West Virginia |
559 | 695 | 15 | 242 | 595 | 13 | 317 | 797 | 26 | 74.7 |
Wisconsin |
1,873 | 763 | 13 | 840 | 693 | 23 | 1,033 | 829 | 23 | 83.6 |
Wyoming |
201 | 788 | 16 | 79 | 638 | 17 | 122 | 915 | 20 | 69.7 |
Note: Data refer to persons 16 years and older. |
Last Modified Date: Tuesday, January 22, 2013