Economists disagree on the causes of the decline.
Now men's wages are rising again, so to keep closing the gap, women's would have to be rising faster. Remarking on the widening gap between the rich and poor, she said low-skilled women are concentrated at the low end of the pay scale. The Republican-appointed head of the Congressional Budget Office, June O'Neill, said that unskilled, unmarried mothers who have been forced off welfare are flooding the job market, thus lowering women's overall wages. Liberal economist Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute agreed, saying that the result of welfare reform has been to drive down wages for the unskilled. Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate Supports Parental Consent Laws Republican candidate for Governor James Gilmore said yesterday that he supports strict parental consent laws for abortion.