We at the Community Foundation are often asked for recent demographic research by nonprofits and others in our community. One query this week was particularly timely: What are the median incomes for men and women who work full-time jobs all year long? Pay equity was top-of-mind for many policy watchers in Colorado and beyond this week.
It was part of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, the theme of which was rising inequality in America.
“Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort?” — President Obama, State of the Union, 2015
He specifically pointed out the fact that generally speaking, women earn less than men, even when working the same jobs. “This Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It’s 2015. It’s time.”
A few hours after that address this week, a Colorado senate committee quietly shut down a commission that had been studying pay equity for years. That commission was convened following a 2007 on pay inequality.
Now, some will agree with that political action and some will disagree, but what do the numbers say?
Here in Boulder County, it’s a mixed bag: Full-time working women here tend to earn more than American working women in general, but the pay gap is wider here than it is nationwide. Median incomes for Boulder County’s full-time working women come in around 73 cents for every male dollar. In Colorado and the United States, full-time working women earn about 79 cents for every male dollar.
More significantly, and something that contributes to major inequality, is that family households headed by single women are far more likely to be in poverty than families in general. Programs that help working women and support pay equity are about fairness, but they can also make major strides in keeping women and their children out of the cycle of poverty.
