State’s Female Workers Paid Less Than Men, Study Finds

Women who worked full time for the state last year had a median income that was only about three-fourths as much as that of their male counterparts, according to a state Senate study released Wednesday.

“It is significant our own state work force reflects this gender pay gap because it suggests we still haven’t found a way to reward women equally for the work they do and are capable of doing,” said state Sen. Lucy Killea (I-San Diego).

The study by the Senate Office of Research found that the median annual salary for women holding state Civil Service jobs was $34,236 last year, while male civil servants had a median salary of $46,020.

The study also found that men were nearly three times more likely than women to hold state jobs that paid at least $70,000 a year.

African American and Latino males with state Civil Service jobs received nearly the same median salary as their white male counterparts. The median salary for white males was $46,020, compared to $45,600 for African American men and $43,836 for Latino men. Perry Kenny of the California State Employees’ Assn. said it was ironic that the report came out while Gov. Pete Wilson is pushing an initiative to eliminate state affirmative action programs.

“While these figures do not compare men and women in comparable jobs, they illustrate a continuing lack of opportunity for women, especially minority women, to obtain the better-paying jobs,” Kenny said.

Shirley McCall, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Personnel Administration, said Civil Service salaries are set by contract bargaining with unions.

She said that when average salaries are taken into account, women do better, earning nearly 80% as much as men in Civil Service jobs.