Pay day

Equal pay for equal work may be the law, but the results of a Duquesne University survey showed that it was not necessarily the expectation. Among college seniors, 51 percent of female respondents said they expect to make $30,000 or less in the next year, compared with 35 percent of males. Conversely, only 12 percent of females expect to make more than $50,000, compared with 29 percent of males.

Raising the bar

Sad to say, those college seniors may be on to something. The Allegheny County Bar Association's Gender Equality Task Force released a report that recommended, among other things, the formation of an Institute for Gender Equality to help shrink disparities in pay and promotions between male and female lawyers. The disparities were uncovered by a 2005 bar association survey.

What are we worth?

Good news: Labor Department statistics comparing Pittsburgh with 14 other cities in the wages paid for certain jobs found that we ranked in the top half for family doctors, hotel clerks, plumbers, elementary school teachers and mechanical engineers. Bad news: The city ranked in the bottom half in wages paid for 13 other occupations, ranking dead last in pay for finance managers and customer service workers.

A toast to us

Good news: Iron City Brewing announced that it was celebrating Pittsburgh's 250th birthday with a series of collectible cans honoring such icons of Pittsburgh culture as the Gateway Clipper Fleet, Primanti Brothers restaurants and Zambelli Fireworks Internationale. Bad news: Hmm, we can't think of a downside to learning history by drinking beer.

Stag party

One of the ugliest word coinages of the 20th century re-emerged last week as commentators sought to describe the state of the economy, based on government figures released for May. On the one hand, housing starts slowed to the lowest pace in 17 years, suggesting a stagnant economy; on the other hand, the producer price index rose 1.4 percent, a clear sign of inflation. Put 'em together and whaddaya got? Stagflation. Ugh. Just saying it makes us want to go take a shower.