The Retail Action Project and CUNY conducted a study of New York City retailers — according to a press release, they found that female employees' median hourly wage was $9.00/hr, while their male coworkers' was $10.13/hr. That means female retail employees in the city earn 89% of what their male counterparts make. This is a slightly smaller wage gap than the one between female and male workers as a whole — women made 77% of what men made in 2008. But since female workers dominate in retail, it's surprising to find the gap still so high. Women also lag in terms of benefits. Just 28% of women in the study had health insurance through their jobs, compared to 31% of men; 43% of women and 51% of men had paid time off. And when it came to career advancement, 55% of men had received a raise in their current job while 36% had received a promotion; for women, those numbers were 44% and 28%, respectively. Study author and CUNY professor Stephanie Luce emphasizes the importance of bringing those numbers up: