Pay Equity in the States

Abstract

Has any gender-based pay adjustment made by the states in the past 25 years had an effect on women’s relative pay? The authors utilize a panel set of EEO-4 data on public sector employment by state to investigate the pay of women relative to men for 1999-2005. The authors find that there is a significant difference in the relative pay of women employed in states that have had a major pay adjustment in female-dominated job classes upward at any time in the past quarter century. Utilizing GLS multiple regression to predict the relative pay gaps by state, the authors find that women are better paid relative to men in the public sector than the private. The authors also find that women are better paid relative to men in Elazar’s traditionalistic states as opposed to individualistic and moralistic ones, which are usually credited with having more progressive public policies.