A new report gives the most detailed view yet of the earnings gap between men and women in New Hampshire. That women earn less than men doing comparable work has been well documented, but this latest study of Census data by the Women's Policy Institute finds an unexpected twist in the connection between education and earnings.
NHPR's Jon Greenberg has more.
See the full report from the NH Women's Institute
Conventional wisdom holds that education is the great equalizer. As people learn more, their earnings go up.
And that's still true, but in New Hampshire at least, this study points to an important caveat. Men get more of a financial boost out of education than women. Take two people, a man and woman, each with a college degree. According to the study's lead author, UNH economist Ross Gittell, on average the man will earn 11 thousand dollars more than the woman. But if they both continue on with school, Gittell says, the man's earnings go up faster.
CUT Gittell
Economist Ross Gittell says in general, women have fewer options than men to help balance the demands of a career and a family. To a large extent, their options are defined by social conventions, but he says the wage gap is less in other states and that difference can be linked to specific state and company policies.
For NHPR News, I'm Jon Greenberg
