QUOTE

The earning power of young single women has surpassed that of their male peers in metropolitan areas around the U.S., a shift that is being driven by the growing ranks of women who attend college and move on to high-earning jobs.

In 2008, single, childless women between ages 22 and 30 were earning more than their male counterparts in most U.S. cities, with incomes that were 8% greater on average, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data released Wednesday by Reach Advisors, a consumer-research firm in Slingerlands, N.Y.

QUOTE

However, women are major contributors to the economy and "they make major consumer decisions," according to Ellen Galinsky, president and co-founder of the nonprofit center, Family and Work Institute.

"So the prejudices that exist are based on ideas that exist from another time another time, another kind of economy, another type of family life that don't exist today," she said.

QUOTE

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. D-N.Y., and chair of the Joint Economic Committee, commissioned the report and is holding a congressional hearing today to discuss its findings.

"What is most startling to me is how little progress we've made even though there's a bright spot in that more women are gaining education, we're closing the education gap but we're not closing the pay gap," Maloney said.

QUOTE