JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Census data show that women in Louisiana are paid about two-thirds of what men are paid — the nation’s largest gender pay gap.
Figures from 2013 show Mississippi’s gap was much smaller: about average nationally, at 77 percent. But average pay for both men and women in Mississippi was the nation’s lowest.
In Louisiana, men’s pay was in the top half nationally but women’s pay ranked 44th among the states and Washington, D.C.
Lisa Maatz of the American Association of University Women says that indicates high gender segregation in Louisiana jobs. She notes that few women work in the high-paying oil and gas area.
The District of Columbia had both the highest average pay and the smallest gender gap: women’s pay averages 91 percent of men’s pay.
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