AZ had smallest men’s, women’s pay gap

TOP: Arizona had the smallest gap of any state between men’s and women’s pay, trailing only the District of Columbia for pay parity, according to new numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Click on a state on the map above for details about its pay disparity. (Cronkite News Service graphic by Mauro Whiteman)
BOTTOM: Arizona women do relatively well when it comes to earnings compared to Arizona men, but earnings in the state as a whole are lower than the national average. Median weekly income for women ts $670 in Arizona, $691 nationally; for men it was $772 in the state compared to $854 nationally. (Chart courtesy Bureau of Labor Statistics)

By MAURO WHITEMAN
Cronkite News Service


WASHINGTON – Arizona had the smallest gap between men’s and women’s pay among states in 2012, with women in the state earning about 87 cents to the dollar, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Arizona trailed only the District of Columbia, where women earned about 95 cents to a man’s dollar, according the latest numbers from BLS, which said women nationally averaged about 81 cents on the dollar. The biggest disparity was in Wyoming, where women earned 65 cents to each dollar earned by men.

President Barack Obama this week called on states, Congress and business leaders to adopt policies that close the gender pay gap. But analysts say Arizona’s pay equity is likely due to factors other than policy in a state that last actively considered equal pay legislation in the 1970s.

“Other states have definitely taken steps more recently,” said Kate Gallagher Robbins, senior policy analyst for the National Women’s Law Center, pointing to states like New York and Vermont that considered equal pay bills within the last year.

In Arizona, experts said, the small earnings gap may have more to do with the state’s industrial mix, its demographics and generally lower overall incomes, among other factors.

“It’s heartening to see that we figure well, but there are a lot of confounding factors,” said Sapna Gupta, senior policy analyst at Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy. “There’s still a lot of progress to be made.”

She noted that Arizona’s median wage is still very low compared to other states. Arizona’s median weekly paycheck was $732, below the national average but above 15 other states. Women in the state had median income of $670 per week, compared to men’s $772.

Gupta said it will be interesting to watch Arizona’s gender pay gap as the state continues to recover from the recession and median weekly wages increase.

“As the wages go up, will the gap be closed?” she asked. “Will it narrow? Will it widen? Will it disappear?”

Another factor in the state’s relative pay equity is the type of work in Arizona, which has more service-based and less traditional and manufacturing jobs than the nation as a whole, she said.

That “industrial mix” argument was echoed by Dennis Hoffman, professor of economics at ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business, who pointed to other possible reasons as well.

Hoffman said Arizona tends to have many low-wage construction jobs that are dominated by male workers and high-wage service jobs in the financial, health-care and education sectors that are dominated by women.

He added that Arizona, as a young state unencumbered by the “old boy” networks that may be found elsewhere, has no problem with women in leadership positions, in government or business.

“The last three governors have been women. You have women throughout state and local government,” Hoffman said.

“We embrace people for their productivity and their contributions to businesses and to the economy,” he said. “Perhaps we’re getting some reduction in gender pay gap from that.”

Progressive groups were pleased to see the narrow earning gap in Arizona, but agreed that the state’s pay equity probably comes from factors other than state policy.

“At a first glance, it seems great, but when you dig deeper you find that it may just be … the economy and the businesses that are in Arizona,” said Anna Chu, policy director for the ThinkProgress War Room at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
 
In terms of policy, she said, Arizona is “not necessarily the state that comes to mind when we think of states have a progressive leaning.”

“It has almost a libertarian leaning, rather than a traditionally progressive leaning,” Chu said.

But Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, said she believes the state is very progressive – but after its own fashion.

“It’s also a very progressive state, and I don’t mean in terms of political opinion left or right,” Sinema said of Arizona. “What I mean by progressive is that Arizonans are willing to do things that other states are not willing to do.”

She pointed to the state’s long history “of celebrating and recognizing the talents of women.” Sinema also cited the state’s voter-initiated clean-elections law, its legalization of medical marijuana and a ban on smoking in public places as examples of its willingness to break from convention.

“As a voting bloc, Arizonans are progressive in the sense – I mean that with a little “p” – that they’re willing to try new things,” she said.

  LADIES FIRST  

Women have had played a large part in Arizona for much of its history. Highlights from the past century include:

- 1912: Arizona becomes a state. The same year, men vote for women’s suffrage in the general election – eight years before ratification of the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the vote nationally.

- 1932: Arizona elects Rep. Isabella Selmes Greenway, the state’s first congresswoman. She would on to win re-election in 1934.

- 1981: Arizona native Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first female justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

- 1999: The “Fab Five” are sworn into office: Gov. Jane Dee Hull, Secretary of State Betsey Bayless, Attorney General Janet Napolitano, Superintendent of Public Instruction Lisa Graham Keegan and State Treasurer Carol Springer.

- 2012: Arizona tops the chart for smallest gender pay gap.

Library Friends reveals participating chefs

TASTE OF RIM COUNTRY 

The Library Friends of Payson, Inc, is pleased to announce the
following area chefs/restaurants will be participating in "A Taste of
Rim Country" on Saturday, March 8 at the Payson Public Library from
5pm-8pm:  Sweet Shoppe, Payson Senior Center, Rim Country Health &
Retirement, Dimi Espresso, The Randall House, Ayothaya Thai & Sushi
Cafe, Miss Fitz 260 Cafe, Pinion Cafe, Payson High School Culinary
Club, and Gerardo's Firewood Cafe.
 
We offer a sincere 'Thank You' to our Sponsors for their generous monetary
donations - Gold $500: William and Ellen Olsen, Silver $250: George
Henry's Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, and Pioneer Title; Bronze
$100: Chris Smith Investments, Lowery's Window & Door, Joanne Ivins,
Su Connell and Stan Garner, Denise Blanchette - in memory of Chuck
Blanchette, Edward Jones, Sami Frazier, Payson Pet Care Veterinary
Clinic, Mattress Experts & More, Messenger  Payson Funeral Home, Tom
Russell & Associates, and Karen Thornton.
 
The event features appetizer and/or dessert offerings from each chef,
a complimentary wine tasting table, a 50-50 raffle, and a silent
auction of unique items.  Tickets are $30 each, of which $15 is a
tax-deductible donation, available by advance purchase only at the
Payson Public Library.  There will be no ticket sales at the door, and
only a limited number will be sold.  Proceeds benefit the Payson
Public Library to support programs and provide supplies and books
which which are not included in its regular budget.

HOW TO AVOID SENIOR SCAMS 

The Library Friends of Payson are pleased to have Officer Mike McAnerny, with the Payson Police Department, speak to the community about  scams and how to avoid  them, on Monday, February  17. He will focus on the ten most common scams that affect Seniors, including financial  and Medicare scams, and he will be able to answer questions about other types of scams.  There will be literature for you to take home.

The Library Friends of Payson meeting, which is held in the library meeting room, will start with a short business meeting at 10:00 a.m., and the program will begin at 10:30 a.m. The public is invited to both the business meeting and the free program. The library will be closed for Presidents’ Day, so please enter at the side meeting door. There will be signs on the doors to direct you to the meeting room. Light refreshments will be served. We look forward to seeing you at this informative meeting. If you have any questions, please call the library at 928- 474-9260.

GOP's Cantor lies about job losses due to ACA

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report says more than 2 million people will decide not to work, or will decide to work less, due to Obamacare – not that they will "lose their jobs."

By Robert Farley
FactCheck.org

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor falsely claims that a new report confirms the long-held Republican belief that "millions of hardworking Americans will lose their jobs," because of the Affordable Care Act. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report says more than 2 million people will decide not to work, or will decide to work less, due to the law – not that they will "lose their jobs."

Shortly after the CBO released the report that updated, and nearly tripled, its initial estimate on the reduction in the supply of labor due to the Affordable Care Act, Cantor fired off two messages via Twitter. 

Cantor, Feb. 4: The CBO's latest report confirms what Republicans have been saying for years now.  Under Obamacare, millions of hardworking Americans will lose their jobs and those who keep them will see their hours and wages reduced.

That's not what the CBO report said. The report estimated a reduction in full-time-equivalent employment of about 2.3 million by 2021. But the drop is "almost entirely" due to a reduction in "the amount of labor that workers choose to supply" (see pages 117-127). 

CBO, Feb. 4: The estimated reduction stems almost entirely from a net decline in the amount of labor that workers choose to supply, rather than from a net drop in businesses' demand for labor, so it will appear almost entirely as a reduction in labor force participation and in hours worked relative to what would have occurred otherwise rather than as an increase in unemployment (that is, more workers seeking but not finding jobs) or underemployment (such as part-time workers who would prefer to work more hours per week). 

That last part — which notes that the drop is not due to an increase in unemployment or underemployment — makes clear that comments like Cantor's are misleading.

Back in August 2010, the CBO estimated the health care law would "reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by a small amount — roughly half a percent," a percentage CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf later pegged at 800,000 jobs. When Republicans, including Michele Bachmann, misused that report to claim the ACA would "kill 800,000 jobs," we noted that the figure was mostly due to some Americans deciding to work less.

Why? The CBO has explained that those with low incomes would have more financial resources due to the expansion of Medicaid and subsidies to purchase health insurance, which would "encourage some people to work fewer hours or to withdraw from the labor market."

Plus, the CBO said, some workers nearing retirement will retire earlier than normal because the law provides more protections for health insurance, such as limiting how much more companies can charge older people and requiring the coverage of preexisting conditions. In other words, the law will allow people the ability to leave their jobs or cut back their hours without fear of losing their health insurance.

Republicans also have made claims before about the ACA leading to an increase in part-time employment, but our previous analysis of trends in the number of people working part-time for economic reasons didn’t bear that out. And the CBO report confirms that "there is no compelling evidence that part-time employment has increased as a result of the ACA."

CBO, Feb. 4: In CBO's judgment, there is no compelling evidence that part-time employment has increased as a result of the ACA. On the one hand, there have been anecdotal reports of firms responding to the employer penalty by limiting workers’ hours, and the share of workers in part-time jobs has declined relatively slowly since the end of the recent recession. On the other hand, the share of workers in part-time jobs generally declines slowly after recessions, so whether that share would have declined more quickly during the past few years in the absence of the ACA is difficult to determine. 

In any event, because the employer penalty will not take effect until 2015, the current lack of direct evidence may not be very informative about the ultimate effects of the ACA. 

In fact, the CBO report says in the short term (2014 to 2016) the law will increase employment while the economy is still weak.

With unemployment expected to remain higher than normal over the next few years, the CBO states, even if some people decide to work less, "other applicants will be readily available to fill those positions and the overall effect on employment will be muted." Meanwhile, the report notes, health care subsidies to low-income Americans will lead to those people spending money on other things — which will create jobs. 

CBO, Feb. 4: [T]he ACA's subsidies for health insurance will both stimulate demand for health care services and allow low-income households to redirect some of the funds that they would have spent on that care toward the purchase of other goods and services — thereby increasing overall demand. That increase in overall demand while the economy remains somewhat weak will induce some employers to hire more workers or to increase the hours of current employees during that period. 

The CBO report does provide some new fodder for Republicans who criticize the law for providing disincentives to work, much like other social welfare programs such as food stamps and welfare. The CBO says the ACA’s sliding scale of subsidies based on income will provide incentives for some not to work, or to work less, in order to avoid losing out on health care subsidies.

CBO, Feb. 4: Subsidies that help lower-income people purchase an expensive product like health insurance must be relatively large to encourage a significant proportion of eligible people to enroll. If those subsidies are phased out with rising income in order to limit their total costs, the phaseout effectively raises people's marginal tax rates (the tax rates applying to their last dollar of income), thus discouraging work. In addition, if the subsidies are financed at least in part by higher taxes, those taxes will further discourage work or create other economic distortions, depending on how the taxes are designed. 

Finally, we should note that the CBO cautions that its ACA projections are "highly uncertain," due to the government's "limited experience with this type of program" as well as the "many uncertainties about how the market for health insurance will function under the ACA." Nonetheless, to twist the CBO’s projections on voluntary job reductions into job losses is misleading.

Valentine's Day: Don't forget Library Bookstore

In February our thoughts turn to romance.  In honor of Valentine’s Day, the Library Friends of Payson Bookstore is featuring paperback romance novels at the incredibly low price of 20 for $1.00.

Many of these will be drawn from a recently received, extremely large donation of paperback romances that are in like new condition.  Hurry in for the best selection.  You will be amazed by the vast selection and great quality of this offering.

The library has durable, sturdy tote bags on sale for $1.50. Purchase a tote bag in the Bookstore during February and fill it with 20 paperback romances at no charge. How can you go wrong?

Bookstore stock has never been better and new items are added daily.  Therefore, the wise patron stops by often.  Bookstore volunteers are always happy to help you.

Every penny spent in the Bookstore goes directly to the Payson Library for purchase of new materials.

The LFOP Bookstore is located to the right of the circulation desk just inside the Payson Public Library, 328 N. McLane Road.  For more information visit the Library Friends of Payson website at www.libraryfriendsofpayson.org