California women get paid 88% of men, and that’s 6th-best in US

Women's median weekly wages statewide ran 88% of the men's in 2021. Nationally, a female got paid 83 cents for every $1 a man got.

In a summer celebrating women, entertainment-wise at least, the pay gap by gender still simmers.

While we flock to theaters to see “Barbie,” pack stadiums for Taylor Swift’s music tour and stay up all hours cheering the U.S. women’s national team, this bright cultural spotlight doesn’t truly reflect progress at the workplace.

Despite a milestone agreement for equal pay last year for the U.S. women’s soccer team, my trusty spreadsheet tells me the typical female worker clearly gets paid less than their male counterparts.

A peek inside the government’s annual report on the women’s wage gap compared coronavirus-chilled 2021 to 2016. The good news for California’s female workforce is that the state’s job market has the sixth-smallest wage gap among the states.

The good news for California’s female workforce is that the state’s job market has the sixth-smallest wage gap among the states.

Women’s median weekly wages statewide ran 88% of the men’s in 2021. Nationally, a female got paid 83 cents for every $1 a man got.

So where’s the best place for female workers, looking at this compensation chasm? Women in Rhode Island earn 92% of men. That’s followed by Delaware at 91% and Wisconsin at 89%. Lows? Utah and Wyoming at 75%.

Over the five years tracked, however, California’s gap narrowed by only 0.2 percentage points, ranking No. 32 and trailing the 1.3-point improvement nationally. The divide shrank in 32 states.

Leading the pack was Wisconsin, which shrank its gap by 11 points. Connecticut’s gap contracted 10.4 points and Rhode Island 7.2. The lowest contractions were found in New Mexico where its gap widened by 7 points, followed by Arizona up 5.8, and Indiana up 5.1.

The opportunities

Let’s start with job counts because the opportunity to get a paycheck is just as critical as the pay itself.

California employed the most women – 5.6 million in 2021, 11% of the nation’s 51 million. Next came Texas (4.5 million), Florida (3.5 million), New York (3 million), and Illinois (2 million).

But California’s female share of jobs was sixth-lowest at 43% vs. 45% nationally. Tops were the District of Columbia at 50%, then Mississippi at 49%, and Virginia, Delaware and Louisiana at 48%. Lows? Idaho at 41%, then Wisconsin at 42%.

Or look at women’s job growth over five years. California ranked No. 29 at 3% vs. 5% nationally. Women in 41 states enjoyed gains.

Tops were Utah at 23%, then Arizona at 18%, and Idaho at 17%. Lows? Hawaii saw female workers dip by 6%, then New York and Wisconsin, were off 5%.

The pandemic business limitations varied widely across the nation in 2021. So, I also looked at the job-growth gap between women and men.

California female workers fared much better with their job growth topping men by 5.4 percentage points. That was 16th best among the states and topped the 2.9-point women’s advantage nationally. Female job growth topped males in 40 states.

Tops? Utah’s job growth for women bested men by 18 percentage points, then came Nevada at 13, and Wyoming at 11. Lows? Wisconsin, where women fared 12 points worse, then Indiana, off 7 points, and Minnesota, off 6.

The paychecks

Now let’s talk weekly earnings.

California ranked No. 9 at $1,020 vs. $912 nationally. Tops? D.C. at $1,565, then Massachusetts at $1,157, and Maryland at $1,134. Lows? Mississippi at $722, then Oklahoma at $738, and South Carolina and West Virginia at $756.

California women’s pay rose 25% in five years, No. 8 among the states and topping 22% growth nationally.

Every state had female pay raises, topped by D.C.’s 40%, then Rhode Island at 38%, and Wisconsin at 29%. Lows? West Virginia and South Carolina at 10%, and Arizona at 12%.

And ponder the wage gap another way: 2016-2021 earnings improvements by gender.

California ranked No. 32 for women’s raises vs. men – only 0.2 percentage points better vs. a 1.9 gap nationally. Among the states, 32 had large pay hikes for women vs. men.

Tops? Wisconsin women enjoyed pay gains 16 points better than men, then Connecticut at 15 points, and Rhode Island at 11. Lows? New Mexico women trailed men by 10 points, then Arizona and Indiana with 8-point disadvantages.

Bottom line

Women are clearly closing the compensation gap.

In the entertainment world, singer Swift’s tour may sell $1 billion worth of tickets – perhaps making it the music industry’s largest take. “Barbie” – a film about women empowerment that’s directed by a woman, a sad Hollywood rarity – is setting some movie industry box-office records.

And in everyday life, California women seem to fare relatively well on these national yardsticks for pay and job opportunities.

To qualify that outperformance, when these nine wage-related gradings were averaged, California ranked No. 10 among the states.

The top five are Connecticut, Washington, Rhode Island, Virginia and Nevada. Bottom five: Alaska, New Mexico, Indiana, West Virginia and Minnesota.

Oh, and California’s big economic rivals? Texas was No. 9 and Florida was No. 27.

Jonathan Lansner is the business columnist for the Southern California News Group. He can be reached at jlansner@scng.com