A new study finds that Missouri women earn about 75% of what men earn. As Jacob McCleland tells us, a U-S Bureau of Labor Statistics report found that Missouri’s earning gap has remained relatively unchanged since 1997.
By Jacob McCleland
Nationwide women earn about 81% as much as men. And that’s an improvement from 75% in 1997.
The earning gap hasn’t shrunk in Missouri. Kansas City economist Jacqueline Michael-Midkiff said the earnings gap isn’t a problem if women are predominantly choosing professions that pay less.
“However, what I thought was interesting when I looked at the data is the smaller increase that Missouri had over time," Michael-Midkiff said. "So that trend over time where we stayed around 75 to 77 percent, whereas so many of these other states were really a rise.”
Missouri has the sixth highest earnings gap among the states. Delaware’s is the lowest, where women earn 91% as much as men.