PROVIDENCE – Women in Rhode Island who worked full time in 2008 earned 78.7 cents for every $1 earned by their male counterparts, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

In Rhode Island in 2008, female full-time wage and salary workers earned a median of $678, or 78.7 percent of the $863 earned by males, government figures show.

Women’s earnings in Rhode Island as a share of men’s ranked in the middle among the New England states – behind Vermont (82.1 cents per $1) and Maine (79.5 cents), but ahead of Massachusetts (76 cents), Connecticut (73 cents) and New Hampshire (72.9 cents).

Nationwide, the median woman earned $638 in 2008, or 80 percent of the $798 that men took home.