12/17/22, 1:26 AM Women’s wages don’t stretch as far in Florida | Miami Herald

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Women’s wages don’t stretch far in Miami,

according to report. Here’s where we rank
BY YADIRA LOPEZ

MARCH 19, 2021 7:00 AM

   

A recent report indicates women in Miami don’t have much left after living expenses for discretionary spending.

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The average woman in Miami can’t afford much beyond the basics with her wages.

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12/17/22, 1:26 AM Women’s wages don’t stretch as far in Florida | Miami Herald

That’s according to a new report that ranked the nation’s 100 largest metro areas
based on how far women’s wages stretch when comparing earnings to cost of living.
Miami ranked 99. Only McAllen, Texas, fared worse.

The report from MagnifyMoney, a personal finance site, used 2019 data from the U.S.
Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Women in Miami averaged $37,116 a
year, according to the data. That’s an hourly wage of $17.80 — just slightly above the
$15.90 that is considered a living wage in Miami, according to the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator.

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“That’ll get a roof over your head, it’ll get you fed and it will probably get you
transportation, but it’s not going to get you a whole lot else,” said Kali McFadden,
senior research analyst at MagnifyMoney.

A gender pay gap also persists in Miami, according to the report. Women made 13%
less than men in 2019. Men’s average earnings hit $42,425.

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The findings are no surprise to Dr. Maria Ilcheva, assistant director of planning and
operations at Florida International University’s Jorge M. Pérez Metropolitan Center.

“Occupations considered ‘women’s occupations’ don’t pay high wages. Think of

teachers, childcare workers and many of the healthcare occupations that are
essential — they are not valued in terms of earnings,” she said.

Ilcheva coauthored the annual Status of Women in Miami-Dade County report,

which tracks progress toward reducing gender disparities in education, economic
participation and opportunities in the county.

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Achieving income parity would add at least an additional $3.7 billion to the local
economy, Ilcheva said.

It would also have a multiplying effect, points out Marya Meyer, interim executive
director of the Women’s Fund Miami-Dade, a nonprofit tackling gender equity in the
county.

“The core of economic mobility is equal pay,” Meyer said.

Inequities in pay continue to plague women on a national scale, said Charmaine

Davis, regional administrator and director of the U.S. Department of Labor Women’s
Bureau in Atlanta.

“Occupational segregation, the devaluing of work done primarily done by women

and lack of access to benefits like paid family leave all contribute to the wage gap,”
Davis said at a press conference Thursday.

While women make up about 47% of the workforce, they are underrepresented in
some of the highest paid fields and apprenticeships, she said.

“Our economy is both dependent on the labor of women yet simultaneously

undervalues that labor,” Davis added.

March 24 this year marks the 2021 date for the extra days women must work to
match the average male earnings in 2020. For women of color, “equal pay day”
comes even later in the year.

Compared to white men with the same educational attainment, Black and Latina
women with bachelor’s degrees on average earn 65% of what their white male
counterparts are paid, according to federal data Davis shared.

YADIRA LOPEZ

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