Women closing the pay gap.

• Author: Leonhardt, David
• Position: Business - Pay equity

Women are bringing home the bacon these days.

While men's wages have stagnated in the weak economy, women's earnings have continued to grow, giving an important lift to many families, economic experts say. The increases have closed the gap between men's and women's wages to the narrowest on record.

Women's pay still lags behind men's in most sectors of the economy. Full-time female workers made 77.5 percent of what their male counterparts did last year, according to government statistics. In the previous eight years, the inequality had grown, to 76 percent in 2001 from 77.1 percent in...