Women in Washoe County last year earned monthly pay that was 71 percent the amount of the earnings of male workers — a difference of more than $1,400 a month in the average paycheck.
A new analysis by the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation finds the gap between female and male earnings has narrowed in the past 20 years.
In the autumn of 1998, women’s earnings in Washoe County were 65.6 percent of men’s earnings.
The state researchers found that the estimated 90,276 women at work in Washoe County last fall earned an average of $3,599 a month. The 97,860 employed men earned an average of $5,067 a month.
The gender difference was smaller in Carson City, where women last autumn were earning, on average, 77.9 percent of the amount earned by men.
State analysts believe that the heavy concentration of state government employment in Carson City helps close the gender-pay gap. Female earnings in government jobs in Nevada are 84 percent of male earnings.
The biggest differences between the earnings of men and women in Nevada come in rural counties whose economies are dominated by mining.
In Humboldt County, for instance, women’s earnings last year were 50 percent of those of men, while in White Pine County, the figure is 55 percent. In Elko, earnings by women are less than 60 percent of those of men.
State analysts note that mining and construction jobs — by far, the best-paying positions in those counties — are largely held by men.
Statewide, the researchers found that women’s earnings in the third quarter of last year were 73.1 percent of those of men.
