City employees, particularly women and minorities, are significantly underpaid compared to the region's labor market, according to a pay equity study that also identified 10 job classifications in which women and minorities suffer additional inequity among other city workers.

Jeffrey Ling, executive vice president of Evergreen Solutions LLC, which looked into 44 of the city's 610 job classifications, yesterday told City Council that women and minorities make anywhere from $500 and $5,000 less than their white counterparts in job classifications with significant pay differentials.

Additionally, the study, which was partly paid for by the Women and Girls Foundation, concluded that the average salary for a female city employee was almost $10,000 less than that of a male.

"Female earnings equal only 79.9 percent of average male earnings or a 20 percent wage gap. There is significant difference between male and female pay levels among city employees," the study said.

Describing the study as "a call to action for the city of Pittsburgh," Heather Arnet, executive director of the Women and Girls Foundation, said its findings ought to be unacceptable for a city that was recently selected to host the G-20 summit.

During a post-agenda council session to discuss the 156-page study that was released early this month, a number of City Council members said they were not surprised by the findings.

City government as a whole, council President Doug Shields said, is "designed to discriminate" against women and minorities.

Over the years, he said, the culture of employment, pay equity and promotion within the ranks of city government has mirrored the region's diversity, race relations, and advancement of women -- or lack thereof.

However, Mr. Ling, who agreed that the region's culture has an impact on city government operations, disagreed that the study's findings point to systemic discrimination.

"I don't know that I would agree with that," he said, adding that fixing the pay inequity will take time and will require changing some policies on hiring, promotions, pay and job classifications.

To that end, Mr. Ling recommended consistent training of managers and supervisors to properly administer performance management; education of employees on how their salaries are determined; providing a clear system of filing internal complaints, investigating complaints quickly and disciplining managers who make misguided decisions with regard to employees.

But Joanna Doven, spokeswoman for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, said the city, particularly the Ravenstahl administration, has made big strides in the hiring of women and minorities in key positions such as city treasurer, deputy budget director, director of neighborhood initiatives, personnel director, youth director, and press secretary.

"While we have yet to fully realize our goals we continue to make consistent progress towards those goals," she said, citing a 2 percent increase of women in management positions; 15 percent increase in minority executive leadership and a 4 percent increase in minority women in management under the Ravenstahl administration.

Mr. Shields, however, said the problem persists.

"Whether by intent or by sloth," he said, city government has long established a culture of marginalizing women and minorities, in many cases relying on an entrenched system of political patronage to hire fewer women and minorities and to pay them less than their white counterparts.

Councilman Bill Peduto said "there has been a long held perception that Pittsburgh city government is an old boys' network."

This study, he added, "takes away the notion that it's just a perception anymore."