Imagine making $23,000 less per year than your counterpart. As The News-Star reports, that’s the problem facing many working mothers in Louisiana.
A new study by the National Women’s Law Center shows working mothers in the state make 58.2 cents per every dollar that working fathers make. That gap is the highest in the country.
“The wage gap analysis that we do compares men’s and women’s earnings for full-time, year-round workers,” says NWLC Director of Research and Policy Analysis Kate Gallagher Robbins. “What we see in these studies is that men earn more than women in every state and almost every occupation. It’s a pervasive issue that affects women and their family’s economic security.”
The study shows the Louisiana average annual income for working mothers is $32,000, while the average annual income for working fathers is $55,000. The national average for working mothers is $40,000 and the average for fathers is $56,999.
Robbins said women tend to be concentrated in lower wage jobs, such as waiting tables and cleaning services, which leads to the gap.
“One of the things in Louisiana is that the tipped minimum wage for the wage you pay restaurant servers is the lowest that is federally allowed, which is $2.13 an hour. The regular minimum wage is $7.25 an hour,” she says. “The fact that the wage is especially low in Louisiana—as low as it can be legally—that leads to a broader gap. States that have lower minimum wages do tend to have larger wage gaps as well.”
Bob Eisenstadt, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, said the financial burden of child care contributes as well.
“The responsibilities of child care have fallen more heavily on them,” he says. “It tends to create more discontinuity in their employment history and employment patterns. That’s particularly the case in early careers when they might be building experience and earning raises.”
Robbins said the nature of Louisiana’s economy is also a factor.
“Louisiana is known for its oil production,” she says. “States that have a bigger wage gap tend to be states that have a higher investment in the energy industry. One of the things we see there is there are these relatively well-paid jobs that are traditionally male.”
