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Women in the Workforce

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Wiseman, Paul. (September 1, 2010) Young, single, childless women out-earn male counterparts. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2010-09-01-single-women_N.htm#.

In a recent USA Today article, author Paul Wiseman explores the facts about the shift in salary earnings for men and women. In this article, Paul Weismann, shares that single women with no children between 22 and 30 out-earn men on an average of 8% in the top 366 metropolitan area, according to the 2008 U.S. Census Bureau data analyzed by the New York research firm Reach Advisors. The greatest disparity is in Atlanta where the aforementioned demographics of women earn 21% more than their male counterparts.
There are several factors that attribute to this shift in earning power. Those factors are education and, women choosing to delay marriage and motherhood. Education is the greatest factor in women earning greater salaries than men. Reach Advisors reports, "Nearly three-quarters of girls who graduate from high school head to college, vs. two-thirds of the boys. But they don't stop there. Women are now 1.5 times more likely than men to graduate from college or earn advanced degrees." Education has certainly become the key in salary advancement for women. The greatest implication on society however, is women delaying and/or skipping marriage and motherhood. As a result, the market for housing and children driven markets are not expanding in correlation with this demographic. Instead male-oriented businesses such as automakers and sporting goods companies increasingly target women with cash to spend.
The author of this article further writes that there are greater disparities among women and men in minority groups, particularly African-Americans and Hispanics. There are not factors that would dictate this trend changing. Economist project that women will continue out-earn men in this demographic and this trend will expand into other demographics.

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