Gender Gap Found In City’s Municipal Workers

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — An examination of municipal salaries has found Austin's work force is overwhelmingly male, especially in upper-management jobs and other higher-paying positions.

The review by the Austin American-Statesman (http://atxne.ws/1LtYc6i ) looked at hourly wage data for nearly 12,000 full-time municipal employees and found that the median woman earns 86 cents for every dollar a man earns.

The Statesman used a different methodology than the one used by the city when it released an August report saying women earned 96 cents for every $1 earned by a man.

The newspaper's examination also found nearly 70 percent of the city's full-time workers are men and 63 percent of upper management is male.

Advocates say equal-compensation practices are important because they strengthen the area's economy by increasing the earning potential of both genders.