For women in Louisiana who are hoping the gender pay gap will close soon, a new report from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research suggests they shouldn’t hold their breath.
As Bloomberg reports, the institute projects Louisiana won’t close the gap—the difference between women’s and men’s earnings—for another 91 years. The outlook for working women is only bleaker in Wyoming, where the pay gap isn’t expected to close until 2159. Louisiana and Wyoming are among five states that won’t close the gap this century, the institute projects.
While the United States has made strides toward reducing the wage gap over the decades, the new research shows just how far there is to go. In 2013 women earned 78.3 cents on the dollar compared with men, up from 76.5 cents in 2012, according to the report, which cites research by Carmen DeNavas-Walt and Bernadette Proctor at the U.S. Census Bureau.
Women in Florida might see equal pay the soonest, with the state projected to reach pay parity in 2038.
Currently New York is closest to gender wage parity, with women earning 87.6 cents on the dollar. Though Wyoming isn’t expected to close it’s gap until after Louisiana, the Bayou State is still home to the largest pay gap among the 50 states and Washington D.C., at 66.7 cents earned by women for every $1 earned by men working the same job.
