Analysis: American Association of University Women from American Community Survey data. Original image: Photos8.com
A report on wage differences between college-educated men and women confirms the long-standing gaps in earning power. However, contrary to conventional wisdom that low-wage, low-education workers are most effected, the American Association of University Women found the “wage gap is actually larger among college-educated workers than it is for the workforce as a whole.”
But the results are mixed in terms of the depth of that gap among the Rocky Mountain states.
AAUW calculated that women in the intermountain West earn 73.5-cents for every dollar earned by a man when each have a Bachelor’s degree. But the wage differentials vary significantly by state:
| State | Median annual earnings for women | Media annual earnings for men | Earnings gap (percentage) | Earnings gap (national rank) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado | $50,600 | $70,800 | 71% | 24 |
| Idaho | $42,500 | $60,700 | 70% | 34 |
| Montana | $38,500 | $49,900 | 77% | 5 |
| New Mexico | $46,500 | $60,700 | 77% | 7 |
| Utah | $45,500 | $65,800 | 69% | 42 |
| Wyoming | $44,300 | $57,700 | 77% | 6 |
AAUW’s groundbreaking report Behind the Pay Gap demonstrates, however, that the wage gap cannot be fully explained by demographic and workplace characteristics. When controlling for factors that are known to affect wages (such as occupation, job tenure, educational attainment, and others), a portion of the pay gap remains unexplained. This analysis suggests that sex discrimination remains a real problem for women in the workplace. Thus, state legislators and other policy-makers should consider sex discrimination as a source of pay differences in their communities.
The data presented in the map provide a snapshot of the pay gap between male and female workers who work full time, year round, including teachers who work 40 weeks a year or more.
