HELENA – Governor Steve Bullock and his staff, along with leadership at Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co, spoke about progress for the Equal Pay For Equal Work Montana Task Force on Tuesday.
The task force reports that Montana ranks 35th in the nation in gender-pay equality for all workers, and 48th when considering full -time workers.
2016 numbers show Montana women working full-time jobs year-round earned about 73 percent of what their male counterparts earned.
This is despite data that shows that Montana women earn more high school diplomas and bachelor’s degrees.
Bullock presented the Governors Equal Pay Award to Don Laine, President and CEO of Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co.
“Gender should have nothing to do with pay. It really should be based on merit, it’s hard for me to believe that somebody would believe that someone would think that just because someone is a female, they don’t warrant the same wage of someone who is doing the exact same job,” said Laine.
Management, hospitality and real estate industries had the smallest wage gap. Finance and insurance, mining, and healthcare saw the widest wage gaps.
The Equal Pay for Equal Work Montana Task Force compiled their information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, and 2017 annual averages.
