Minnesota women earn 80 cents for every dollar men are paid, according to a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data that reveals a gender-based wage gap in all eight Minnesota congressional districts. Median yearly pay for women is $10,164 less than the median annual pay for Minnesota men of $50,580, according to the study prepared by the Washington-based National Partnership for Women & Families.
Women working in the Fifth Congressional District, which includes Minneapolis, fare the best -- earning 87 percent of men's median pay. Women in the state's Eighth District, which includes Duluth and the Iron Range, make only 73 cents for every dollar men earn in northeastern Minnesota.
Minnesota women are slightly better off than the national average, which shows full-time women earning 77 cents for every dollar their full-time male working counterparts bring home.
"It is stunning and deeply troubling," said Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership. "This new data should be a clear and resounding wake-up call for all lawmakers."
