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(51%) of working women are employed by some form of public employer compared <br />to approximately 43,3% in the private sector. Productivity in some public jobs are, <br />in many cases, extremely difficult to measure and the dominance of government in <br />some industries basically dictates the prevailing wage. Being it good or bad, public <br />sector wage setting is inherently political, that is, wages are public information and <br />often reflect political priorities. Pay equity adjustments up to 1990, although not <br />necessarily comparable worth, have totaled approximately $450 million in the public <br />sector. <br />In 1984, Minnesota was the first state to adopt pay equity legislation that <br />directly addressed comparable worth. This legislation became fully implemented in <br />1991. It was suggested that Minnesota was the first state to enact such legislation <br />because of the three following reasons occurring at the same time. <br />• Strong public sector collective bargaining <br />~ Democratic control of state government <br />• Very active commission on the status of women <br />The policy section of Minnesota's Pay Equity Act is cited earlier in this <br />paper. The law does not require all jobs with the same value be paid the same. The <br />law only requires that female classes not be paid consistently below male classes of <br />comparable value. <br />