SC ranks 40th for gender pay gap

Business.org

 

Women in South Carolina are paid 23% less than their male counterparts, according to a recent study conducted by Business.org. This means women in South Carolina effectively stop getting paid on Oct. 8 of each year, the study concluded.

 

Nationally, U.S. women effectively stop getting paid on Oct. 29 due to a national pay gap of 18%.

 

Data Points

 

• In South Carolina, women earn an average salary of $37,584 while men earn an average salary of $48,541.

 

• Women don’t have a higher average salary than men in any U.S. state.

 

• Vermont has the smallest pay gap, with women earning only 9% less than men overall.

 

• Wyoming has the largest pay gap, with women earning 35% less than men overall.

 

• Washington, D.C., boasts the highest average salary for women at $75,750. It is ranked 13th with a gender pay gap of 17%.

 

• Mississippi has the lowest average salary for women at $33,140. It is ranked 41st with a gender pay gap of 23%.

 

• The job role with the smallest pay gap is Producers and Directors, where women earn 6% more than men.

 

• The job role with the largest pay gap for women is lawyers, where women earn 45% less than men.

 

To review the complete study, go to: business.org/hr/benefits/gender-pay-gap/

 

Causes

 

The study identified several reasons for pay disparities: Lack of equal access to funding for female-owned businesses, corporate cultures that tend to promote men or where men are more likely to get raises, unequal hiring practices, states with cultures that emphasize traditional family work structures, the number of women-owned businesses in a given state, lack of local legislation that protects women from discriminatory corporate practices.

 

“It’s crucial to recognize the corporate, local, and governmental cultures that lead to inequality,” wrote business.org staffer Andrew Mosteller, “It’s only by fixing the gender issues in our local communities that we can have any hope of making a significant dent in the national pay gap.”

 

Methodology

 

States are ranked based on the percentage difference between women’s and men’s earnings for full-time, year-round workers.

 

Researches use the stop-pay methodology, where stop-pay dates are based on the day of the year women start working for free based on the gender pay gap in that state. These dates are based on a working calendar that omits weekends. This calendar does not take holidays into account.

 

All statistics were calculated by aggregating data from a number of government and academic sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, “Earnings in the Past 12 Months,” Accessed February 23, 2021; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey,” Accessed February 23, 2021; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Weekly and Hourly Earnings,” Accessed February 23, 2021; and University of Iowa, “Working Day Payroll Calendar,” Accessed February 23, 2021.