Wages earned by Oregon women continue to lag far behind what men earn — a disparity that has persisted for decades and across occupations.

Oregon women earned an average wage of about $53,000 annually in 2021, according to a new analysis of the latest federal data by Jake Procino, an economist with the Oregon Employment Department. That’s about 72% of men’s average wages. He drew on census data for private and public-sector workers.

“In every industry, average monthly earnings for women were lower than men’s earnings,” Procino wrote.

Economists and social scientists have closely studied the reasons for the enduring pay disparity, which is even more pronounced nationally than it is in Oregon.

Procino notes some key reasons — women sometimes work fewer hours than men; women tend to work in fields with lower wages, and men hold a disproportionate share of managerial jobs that pay better.

None fully explain the wage disparity, nor do they completely explain why a pay gap persists even though women now earn more college degrees nationally than men do.

A study released last month by the Pew Research Center found that pay disparities are smaller early in women’s careers, widening over their lifetimes. Motherhood appears to be one major factor — women are more likely than men to stay home when they have children, and men with kids are more likely to have jobs than men who don’t have children.

Women are also less represented in highly compensated technology and science jobs. Various studies have found evidence of gender discrimination in pay and promotions, but Pew notes it’s proven difficult to quantify just how much discrimination contributes to the pay disparity.

The Census data Procino used in his analysis doesn’t offer a comparable national figure for wage disparities. Looking just a private-sector jobs, though, Oregon’s 30% pay gap is 6 percentage points smaller than the nation’s.

It’s not clear what accounts for the difference. Procino said Oregon’s industry mix might be more favorable to women, or perhaps Oregon women work more hours. Or, he said, it might be attributable to other disparities at work.

“Women of color tend to make less than white women, and Oregon has fewer nonwhite people,” Procino said. (Oregon is 72% white and non-Hispanic, according to census figures, compared to 58% for the nation as a whole.)

Oregon women have made some wage progress over the decades — in 1990, they earned just 60% of what men received.

The Oregon Legislature passed an Equal Pay Act six years ago, aiming to address gender pay disparity. The law makes it illegal for employers to pay people less based on their gender, race and other characteristics, restricts employer’s ability to ask applicants about their current wage and encourages employers to audit their pay practices.

Overall, Procino found that women constitute nearly half of Oregon’s labor force. But the share of women working varies considerably by occupation. Here’s a list of the Oregon professions with the highest concentration of women: Health care: 74% of the workforce Educational services: 66% Finance and insurance: 62% And the Oregon industries with the smallest share of women: Mining: 16% Construction: 20% Manufacturing: 28% Utilities: 30% Wholesale trade: 30%

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