The State of Working Pennsylvania 2004 - The Keystone Research ...

The State of Working Pennsylvania 2004 3
• Poverty in Pennsylvania increased substantially since 2000 and 2003, especially for
children. The share of children in poverty increased from 11.6 to 15.5 from 2000 to
2003, a jump of one third. From 2002 to 2003, the share of children in poverty increased
from 13.8 percent to 15.5 percent. The share of adults in poverty increased from 8.5
percent to 10.5 percent between 2000 and 2003.
Wage Gaps
Some wage gaps have widened in Pennsylvania since 2000 and others have narrowed slightly. The
state has made long-term progress in narrowing the gender wage gap but gaps between top and
bottom earners and between African Americans and whites remain much larger than in 1979.
• The wage gap between high- and low-wage earners in Pennsylvania narrowed slightly
in 2003 but remained higher than in 2000 and much higher than in the late 1970s. In
2003 high-wage earners earned 426 percent of what low-wage earners did, down slightly
from 431 percent in 2002 but up dramatically from 335 percent in 1979.
• The wage gap between men and women in Pennsylvania has been narrowing slowly, but
this has come about partly because men’s wages have fallen. In 2003 women earned 80
cents per hour for every dollar earned by men, up from 79 cents in 2002 and 71 cents in
1989.
• African Americans of both sexes generally received smaller raises (or suffered larger wage
cuts) than their white counterparts during most of the period from 1979-2003. In 2003
black men earned 79 cents per hour for every dollar earned by white men, down from 86
cents in 1979. In 2003 black women earned 88 cents for every dollar earned by white
women, down from 98 cents in 1979.
Regional Differences
The effects of the recession and its aftermath have differed across the state’s regions.
• Wages in metropolitan Philadelphia rose by nearly 1 percent in 2003 and wages in the
smaller metropolitan areas of southern Pennsylvania (Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton,
Reading, Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, Lancaster, and York) were up by 0.3 percent. But
in metropolitan Pittsburgh and a “rest of the state” region consisting of non-metropolitan
areas and smaller metropolitan areas wages fell by about 2 percent.
• Most of Pennsylvania’s metropolitan areas lost jobs from 2000-2003 but Altoona,
Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, and suburban Philadelphia (although not the City of
Philadelphia or the entire metropolitan area) gained jobs. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton’s
employment remained unchanged.
• The decline in manufacturing jobs was especially severe in the state’s smaller
metropolitan areas, where manufacturing is even more important to the local economy
than it is statewide.