WOMEN'S PAY GAP AT RETIREMENT ALARMING NUMBER - WV Leads Nation With Unequal Pay

(04/17/2015)

An alarming statistic shows a gap in unequal pay between men and women when they retire, according to Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research, John Deskins. But the pay gap is a problem. Tuesday was Equal Pay Day, calling to attention the pay gap between men and women in West Virginia, which is the widest in the nation. When analyzing retirement money at the poverty level, men on average make about $27,000 and women make about $16,000. A common explanation for the pay gap is women taking maternity leave which decreases their pay, with most developed countries dealing with that pay gap offering paid maternity leave for women, unlike the United States. National statistics show that women are paid much less than men during their work life, often in similar job categories. West Virginia is a state with the widest pay gap in the USA between men and women. Women's Policy Research ranked West Virginia last in the United States, women in the state making about 66 cents for every dollar that a man earns. "Women tend to go into professions that tend to pay lower than men, whether that's by choice or whether that's due to society pressure, I don't know. But they do tend to choose lower paying occupations for whatever reason. I will also say that some of that wage gap is unexplained. We can explain a lot of it but we can't explain all of it, so that may even be discrimination as the unexplainable factor," said Deskins. Read WEST VIRGINIA RANKS LAST IN EQUAL PAY FOR WOMEN IN USA (09/06/2014)

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