[Archived] City of Alexandria Finds Substantial Gender Equity in Employee Compensation

For Immediate Release: September 12, 2016

An analysis of pay by gender found that the City of Alexandria’s male and female employees are compensated with far greater equity than the national average.  Studies by the U.S. Department of Labor show women nationwide earn approximately 79 percent what men do, for a national pay gap of 21 percent.  By contrast, female City employees earn an average of 94 percent compared to their male colleagues, for a pay gap of 6 percent. For job titles held by more than one employee (which is the case for three quarters of the City’s workforce), women earn approximately 1 percent more on average than men.  

“I’m pleased to have statistically confirmed that our employees are compensated according to the work they do, with relatively little disparity by gender,” said City Manager Mark B. Jinks.  “Fair compensation is a critical factor in our ability to attract and retain the best talent to serve our community, and we will continue to work towards the goal of full gender equity.”

The City undertook this analysis on its own accord in light of national concern about the pay gap between men and women.  The study looked at 2,812 regular full-time and part-time positions and did not account for differences in career selection between men and women.  Fifty-two percent of City employees are male, and 48 percent are female.

The City’s relative pay equity can be attributed in large part to the use of an established merit pay system, which provides pay increases at regular intervals to employees with satisfactory performance.  Equity across City government is also supported by parity in staff leadership positions.  On average, female officials and administrators earn 2 percent more than their male peers.  The 123 City employees classified by the federal government as “officials and administrators” are almost equally divided by gender. 

When broken down by category of job, the average pay gap varied from 2 to 10 percent.  In three of the seven categories, women are paid more than men.  The study also looked at pay gaps by age, years of employment, and grade.  The findings have been shared with the City’s Commission on Women and Human Rights Commission.  Click here for the complete data tables.

For media inquiries, please contact Andrea Blackford, Senior Communications Officer, at andrea.blackford@alexandriava.gov or 703.746.3959.