Women working 9 to 5 in Baton Rouge may be working just as hard as men for less.
Internet-based financial news and opinion corporation 24/7 Wall St. released a report last week stating Baton Rouge was the No. 1 worst-paying city for female workers.
Based on data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau, 24/7 Wall St. compared the median incomes for the past 12 months of men and women in the United States.
When the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was enacted, women who worked full-time earned about 60 percent of the average wage for men. Now, women make 77.4 percent of the average man’s salary, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In Baton Rouge, the average woman receives 63.4 percent of the average wage for men, according to the report. This difference marks an increase of 3.4 percent from the national average in 1963.
The median income for Baton Rouge women is $32,385, compared to men who make $51,103. That means the average local female makes less than two-thirds of what men do in the metropolitan area.
Baton Rouge’s largest employers lean toward a more industry-based job market, with companies like Turner Industries and the Shaw Group. The industries with the most job growth include education, health services and construction, according to the Baton Rouge Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 economic outlook report.
According to the 24/7 Wall St. report, the industrial-leaning Baton Rouge economy promotes one of the worst pay gaps between men and women.
Ogden-Clearfield, Utah, and Toledo, Ohio, follow Baton Rouge on the list of cities in the country with the worst pay disparities between men and women.
But Robert Newman, chair of the University’s Department of Economics, said the income comparisons made in the report are meaningless. He said when making income comparisons between men and women, average incomes hide more than they reveal.
“This type of comparison says nothing at all about the significant difference in the distribution of men and women across industries and occupations,” Newman said in an e-mail. “On average, men and women have different experience levels, educational backgrounds and preferences for types of occupations they enter.”
Environmental engineering junior Kay Warner said it isn’t fair for women to work as much as men and not get paid the same amount of money.
“Knowing women don’t receive equal pay, it would deter my decision to possibly work in Baton Rouge in the future,” Warner said.
 
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Contact Lauren Duhon at [email protected]