HD40 - Technical Report: Gender Pay Equity in the Virginia State Workforce


Executive Summary:
The difference between salaries earned by men and those earned by women has been articulated as an issue of concern nationwide as well as in Virginia. Because the Commonwealth is one of the largest employers in Virginia, House Joint Resolution No. 491 of the 1997 General Assembly directed the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to study gender pay equity in the State workforce. The study mandate also specifically directed JLARC to examine: "(i) which jobs are segregated by gender; (ii) within each pay grade, whether there is a wage gap between the jobs that are dominated by men and the jobs that are dominated by women; (iii) the size of [this wage gap]; and (iv) whether male-dominated and female-dominated job classes at the same grade level have the same or similar qualifications."

In this study, pay equity was defined as having two aspects: (1) equal pay for identical work; and (2) equal pay for work requiring comparable skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions. The findings of this study are mixed, but generally indicate that these two aspects of pay equity are met. Males and females who held the same type of job and who had comparable years of State service tended to earn similar salaries. Among male-dominated and female-dominated jobs in the same pay grade, the "wage gap" was relatively small, compared to within-group variations in salary level. Qualifications were generally comparable, although in some pay grades there were implicit tradeoffs between required education levels and work environments.

On average across all State full-time classified employees, salaries earned by females were about 84 percent of those earned by males. This difference in average salaries was primarily due to the fact that men and women tended to hold different types of jobs. For example, job classes with the highest numbers of females tended to be in the office services and secretarial support area (with pay grades ranging from Grade 4 to Grade 7). Job classes with the highest numbers of males tended to be in the law enforcement and corrections area (with pay grades ranging from Grade 7 to Grade 10). On average, males were in job classes that were two pay grades higher than females, and the difference in salary between two pay grades was about 16 percent. So, for example, a Grade 7 salary is about 84 percent of a Grade 9 salary. This 84 percent figure compares with a figure from the 1996 U.S. Census data: nationally, women earned about 74 percent of what men earned.