A new study shows that Utah women make 70 cents for every dollar that men make, the fourth largest wage gap in the country.
The study looked not only at the wage gap, but what it adds up to in terms of dollars for Utah’s economy. Author Matthew Weinstein is State Priorities Partnership Director at Voices for Utah Children.
“If Utah women earned at the level of only the national wage gap, 79 cents for every dollar that a man makes instead of 70 cents, that would actually add up to 1.6 billion dollars in personal income that would be added to women’s pay and to Utah’s economy every year,” Weinstein says.
Utah women are more likely than the national average to start college, but he says they’re less likely to finish with a degree. “Where we fall behind is in completing college. We actually have a much lower rate of college completion than at the national level.”
Policy recommendations include promoting higher education, more affordable childcare, an expansion of Medicaid, and increasing take-home pay for lower income Utahns in general. The University of Utah Department of Economics also contributed to the study.
