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Around the Old Dominion

Wage gauge: Women still lag behind men

Virginia Business
August 2004

Think the gender gap on pay scales is closing? Think again. The U.S. Census Bureau recently released a report based on its 2000 Census showing that, on average, even when education and experience are the same, men continue to out-earn women by more than 20 percent.
Where a man earns a dollar, a woman earns 74 cents. Virginia matches the nationwide numbers, according to William Rodgers, a former economics professor at the College of William & Mary who did a study on the gender wage gap in the Old Dominion. Williamsburg boasts the closest wage ratio but not necessarily for the right reasons: The men there are simply not paid that well, thanks to a combination of young workers and low-wage jobs, says Rodgers, now a professor at Rutgers University. Below are the numbers from selected localities.

 
Men
Women
Alleghany County
$1.00
$0.59
James City County
$1.00
$0.62
Chesapeake
$1.00
$0.67
Roanoke
$1.00
$0.76
Albemarle County
$1.00
$0.77
Norfolk
$1.00
$0.85
Alexandria
$1.00
$0.87
Williamsburg
$1.00
$0.94

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