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What difference does 4 cents make? Local women already know, because that's how much women's earnings slid relative to men's last year. Experts aren't sure why.
Last year in King County, men's median salaries increased from about $52,000 to about $55,000, while women's salaries remained constant at about $41,000, according to economic results released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.
Put another way, women in King County earned slightly more than 74 cents for every dollar a man earned in 2005, down from nearly 79 cents a year earlier, according to a Seattle P-I analysis of the report.
Nationally, the difference between women's and men's earnings was about the same as it had been, about 77 cents for every dollar.
Half of all people make more than the median salary and half make less. Because the Census Bureau's surveys do not compare men and women by job category, the results show that women's overall wages are lagging but do not necessarily mean women earn less at the same job.
Local women, meanwhile, said the results confirmed what they already knew.
Linda Shepherd, chief actuary at Safeco Corp., said women may be at a disadvantage if family responsibilities keep them in one place. She has been able to increase her pay and professional responsibilities since graduating from the Wharton School of Business, but had to move four times in the process.
"If you're more willing to move, you're able to make money," she said, adding that, unlike in the past, she sees more women moving for their careers and taking husbands and families with them.
Ann Adams, a retired businesswoman who ran a vocational rehabilitation company until three years ago, said she was surprised that women's median pay was as close as it was to men's.
She said women she knows are more likely than men to sacrifice pay for family considerations or to work, as she did, in health care and other industries that are relatively low-paying.
"Those jobs just pay less, but you know that when you get into it," she said. "I don't think all things are equal, especially when you're raising a family."
One woman in a business suit, walking the Seattle waterfront after work, said: "It's really no surprise. Men make more than women; they don't do the lower-paying jobs."
"My husband makes more than me. I bet your husband makes more than you," the legal secretary, who asked that her name not be used, told a Seattle P-I reporter.
Meanwhile, others were taken aback that a gender gap remains.
"I don't see the point in gender affecting pay," said Chris Grafmiller, 21, a barista at Uptown Espresso.
"I have plenty of (female) colleagues and fellow students who work just as hard as guys. I just don't see why pay would be different for men or women," he said.
Of the 10 industries adding jobs in King County during 2005, men dominate most of the highest-paid. In contrast, women are the majority in most of the lowest-paid categories. That may or may not change as time goes on, says regional labor economist Cristina Gonzalez, who analyzed King County jobs data for the P-I.
Many theories why
Experts said they could only speculate why this area shows a growing disparity when others do not, but suggestions ranged from elimination of affirmative action to job and income growth in male-dominated sectors such as construction and manufacturing.
"I can only give you anecdotal information about why that might be happening," said Kris Stadelman, chief executive of King County's Workforce Development Council, a non-profit employment agency run jointly by Seattle and King County.
Most people seeking help from her agency are women, and many end up taking jobs at the bottom of the pay scale.
Economist Gonzalez said the widening gap reflects male dominance in certain areas of the economy, and said it's possible that trend will continue as King County moves closer to full employment.
"It could very well be," said Gonzalez, "that these higher-paid jobs skewed towards one gender will be the ones that continue to grow."
David Freiboth, executive secretary-treasurer of the King County Labor Council, said he also believes it reflects a nationwide retrenchment in affirmative action policies, including those aiding women.
"My intuitive reaction is that it reflects a political will that has retarded affirmative action programs," Freiboth said. "If the programs promoted over the years for the economically disadvantaged -- women and minorities -- don't receive the support they once did, this (wage discrepancy) is a very likely outcome of that effort. ... I'd say women are being economically disadvantaged."
The data reviewed by the P-I comes from the federal government's American Communities Survey, which was increased to 3 million people in 2005. Figures from 2004 were derived from interviewing 800,000 people. However, the salary change in King County for men was both greater than the rate of inflation and greater than the margin of error for the change from the 2004 survey in which the government asked the same questions.
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