(This article originally appeared on Technorati’s Women Channel)
Another report on the status of women in the U.S. workforce has come out with good news and bad news (mostly bad). A March report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics titled “Women at Work” begins with the fact that in 2010 women’s wages have improved from 78 cents to 81 cents for every dollar earned by men.
Another piece of good news is that in 1970, 22% of women in the civilian labor force had attended college and in 2010 that figure increased to 67% But. in today’s economy, jobs are still hard to come by and most openings are either in the healthcare or education field.
So don’t start celebrating yet.
Men still out-earn women in almost every category and if you look at the people in America’s boardrooms, only 3% of the leadership positions at the 1000 largest U.S. corporations are held by women.
There’s more bad news. From 2008 to 2018, the women’s civilian labor force is projected to increase by 9%. This increase is primarily due to two changes – the number of women in the workforce aged 65 to 74 is expected to increase by 90% and the number of working women aged 75 and older is projected to increase by 61%. Meanwhile the number of women in the workforce who are 16-19 years old, as well as those aged 35 to 54, is expected to decrease over that time period.
Some of this shift has to do with changing demographics. But it is also due to the fact that 75% of our country’s impoverished are elderly women. Because they have shorter careers, longer life-spans and lower benefits, older women need to find additional income to supplement their meager Social Security income.
Right now, nurses and elementary and middle-school teachers make up the biggest employment areas for women. They have slightly higher wages than men, probably because they’ve been working in these positions longer and have achieved more seniority. However, the average salary in each of these fields is not great.
The most popular and highest-paying healthcare position is a registered nurse with an average salary of approximately $52,000. The second most popular and highest paying career for a woman is an elementary or middle school teacher with an average annual salary of $47,000 and the third most popular occupation is a nursing and home health care aide who makes an average of $22,000 per year.
Forbes had an article last week that highlighted the jobs where women earn slightly more than men: bakers (approximately $25,000/yr.), construction supervisors ($52,000/yr.), waiters and bartenders, makeup artists and skincare specialists, interviewers, pre-school and kindergarten teachers ($32,000/yr.) and teachers’ assistants ($25,000/yr.). Except for the construction supervisors, of which only 3% are women, most of these jobs are relatively low-paying.
On the brighter side, AOL Jobs had an article last month that listed the highest-paying entry level jobs for men or women. Most require a college degree.
The best paying entry-level jobs:
*Investment Banking Analyst- (requires graduate work) $73,000/yr.
*Assistant Actuarial analyst- (requires a bachelor’s degree,
strong computer skills) $54,000/yr.,
*Junior Tax Associate- (requires a degree in accounting) $53,000/yr.
*Pharmaceutical Sales Rep.- (requires college degree) $51,000/yr.
*Auditor- (requires 4-year degree in accounting) $49,000/yr.
*Wind Turbine Technician- (requires associates degree) $47,000/yr.
*HealthCare Resource Analyst (requires bachelor’s degree
and training) $47,000/yr.
*SEO Analyst- (requires 4-year degree, marketing experience,
strong analytical skills) $44,000/yr.
Forensic DNA Analyst- (requires 2-4-year degree) $41,000/yr.
Law Research Associate-(requires associates degree) $40,000/yr.
With more women graduating college and the continued weakness in the job market, the best course of action is to enter college with a career plan. First, students should research the fields where there’s demand with higher pay, and check out available scholarships and financial aid. Then they can graduate with a minimal amount of debt and have a good job waiting for them.
