March 16--It's commonly said that women make 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. But the gap differs widely depending on the profession, according to new census data.
If you're a woman who works as a special education teacher, a transportation security screener, a producer or director, chances are good that you earn close to, if not more than, your male counterparts.
Among those professions where the wage gap between the sexes is the widest: securities, commodities and financial services sales; farmer and rancher; and economist.
Women in those lines of work earn 55 percent, 61 percent and 69 percent of male workers. Those margins of error range from 5 to 10 percent.
The Census Bureau released the data Monday in honor of Women's History Month.
Other occupations in which women working full time experienced major pay inequality with men included artists and photographers, both fields in which female earnings were 68 percent of men's.
Professions in which women saw little if any differential between their pay and that of men also included dishwashers and retail buyers.
The census data also included the percentage of women in various occupations.
Women account for 97 percent of preschool and kindergarten teachers, 95 percent of speech pathologists and 100 percent of nurse midwives. Those margins of error range from 5 to 0.6 percent.
Other occupations that are nearly entirely made up of female workers include medical transcriptionists and secretaries.
Occupations with the biggest gender gaps included: cement masons; septic tank and sewer pipe services and cleaners; roof bolters; oil and gas roustabouts; and mine-shuttle car operators
Women account for 0.1 percent or less than workers in those professions. Margins of error in calculating women's representation in those five professions ranged from 16 to 0.1 percent.
The census data, from the 2013 American Community Survey, also found that, among total full-time, year-round civilian workers age 16 and older, women now earn 78.8 percent of men's earnings.
byerak@tribpub.com
