ELY — A state-mandated analysis of Ely’s municipal compensation shows employees in female-designated job classes earn an average of roughly $300 less per month at the top of their pay scale than those in male-designated classes.
The report, generated through the Minnesota Pay Equity Management System using 2025 data, shows Ely employs 37 people across 27 job classifications. Seven of those classes are female-designated, accounting for seven employees. Nineteen are male-designated, covering 26 employees. One position — Library Assistant — is classified as balanced. Four employees hold that position.
Under Minnesota law, a job class is designated “female” when 70 percent or more of its employees are women, and “male” when 70 percent or more are men. The designation follows the composition of the workforce in that role, not the gender of any individual worker. A man employed in a female-designated class, or a woman in a male-designated class, wouldn’t change the classification on their own. It’s a statistical tool the state uses to compare compensation across roles of similar complexity and responsibility, measured through a point system that accounts for factors like education requirements, decision-making authority, and working conditions.
Ely’s seven female-designated classes include the Librarian, Library Clerk, Planning and Zoning Administrator, Administration Assistant, Accounting Clerk, and Deputy Clerk positions. By the state’s point system, those roles carry comparable responsibility to many male-designated positions in the city — but their pay ceilings are lower. Female-designated classes have an average maximum monthly pay of $6,069.79, compared to $6,371.99 for male-designated classes, a difference of about $302 per month.
Ely’s overall pay equity score — called an underpayment ratio — came in at 88.42. Minnesota requires cities to score at least 80 to be in compliance, and Ely clears that threshold. The ratio is calculated by comparing the percentage of male-designated classes paid below their predicted pay to the percentage of female-designated classes paid below theirs. A score of 100 would mean male and female classes fall below predicted pay at exactly the same rate. The lower the score, the more female classes are disproportionately underpaid relative to comparable male classes. At 88.42, Ely’s female-designated classes are more likely to fall short of predicted pay than male-designated ones, but not enough to trigger a compliance violation.
The report also reveals that the majority of Ely’s job classes across both male and female designations are currently paid below their predicted pay. Of the 19 male-designated classes, 12 fall below predicted pay, roughly 63 percent. Five of the seven female-designated classes fall below predicted pay, or about 71 percent. On average, male-designated classes are paid $98 below their predicted pay, while female-designated classes are paid $126 below. That suggests compensation pressure isn’t limited to female-designated roles. Most of the city’s workforce, regardless of job class designation, is being paid less than the state’s equity model would predict for work of comparable complexity and responsibility.