Mo. women earn 22% less than men

Missouri women earning full-time wages and salaries brought in median weekly earnings of $660 during 2012, 78.5 percent of the median wage of their male counterparts.

The Show-Me State's full-time wage and salary male workers earned an $841 median per week during 2012, according to data released yesterday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The women-to-men earnings gap in Missouri has increased 3.8 percentage points since 2011. That ratio has ranged from a high of 80.8 percent in 1998 to a low of 73.5 percent in 2000, according to a news release.

Nationally, women took home 80.9 percent of the wages earned by their male counterparts in 2012. Women earned a median $691 a week, compared to $854 per week for men, the BLS said.