Idaho women earn on average 81 cents for every dollar earned by men

In 2015, Idaho women working full-time had median weekly earnings of $654, or 81.1 percent of the $806 median weekly earnings for their male counterparts, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Thursday.

This women’s to men’s earnings ratio is a 4.4 percent decrease over Idaho’s previous year’s ratio of 85.5 percent.

Idaho’s ratio is on par with the national average — nationwide, women earned $726 per week, or 81.1 percent of the $895 median for men.

In Idaho, the ratio of women’s to men’s earnings has ranged from a low of 71.2 percent in 1998 to a high of 87.6 percent in 2013. The ratio in 2015 was the third consecutive year it exceeded 80 percent.

Among the 50 states, median weekly earnings of women in full-time positions in 2015 ranged from $591 in Mississippi to $907 in Massachusetts. Median weekly earnings for men were lowest in Tennessee at $756 and highest in Connecticut at $1,139.

Hawaii had the highest female-to-male earnings ratio among the states, 87.9 percent, and Wyoming had the lowest, 69.0 percent.

This story was originally published February 16, 2017 at 4:15 PM with the headline "Idaho women earn on average 81 cents for every dollar earned by men."