US Equal Pay Day 2022: Gender Pay Gap Widens Further

Despite wage gains in recent months, women still only earn 83 cents for every dollar that men earn for full-time work, according to new research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR); released today on Equal Pay Day 2022 in the US.

This year’s Equal Pay Day falls on 15 March 2022, and marks the symbolic day women must work into the new year to earn what men made in the previous year. It takes even longer when part-time and full-time workers are included. The wage gap actually widened for women of colour in 2021; a group that saw significant job and income losses during the pandemic, and record unemployment.

“This Equal Pay Day, it is clear that pay equity remains elusive for many women regardless of their occupation or sector,” stated C Nicole Mason, President and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. “As women re-enter the workforce, they label higher pay as a key priority when seeking out new opportunities; highlighting the important role employers have to play in accelerating the closing of the gender pay gap.”

PROFOUND WAGE GAPS

IWPR’s data reveals that wage gaps across gender, race, and ethnicity in 2021 were also profound; and widened further in the second year of the pandemic. Compared to the median weekly earnings of White men working full-time, Hispanic women’s full-time earnings were just 58.4%; Black women’s 63.1%; and White women’s 79.6%. The research revealed that:

• In 2021, women earned just 83.1% of what men earned, based on IWPR’s analysis of median weekly earnings for full-time workers. When women and men working both part- and full-time are included, women made only 77.3 cents for every dollar a man made in 2021.
• Wage gaps across gender, race, and ethnicity in 2021 were profound. Compared to the median weekly earnings of White men working full-time, Hispanic women’s full-time earnings were just 58.4%; Black women’s 63.1%; and White women’s 79.6%.
• The wage gap widened slightly for women of colour. While the wage gap narrowed for all women compared to all men, the wage gap widened for Asian, Black, and Hispanic women compared to White men; and stayed the same for White women.
• Occupational segregation contributes strongly to gender and racial wage gaps. Almost one in four Hispanic women and more than one in five Black women work in services, the broad occupation group with the lowest earnings; compared to just slightly over one in ten White women, and one in 11 White men.
• Women earn less than men in almost all occupations. Women’s full-time earnings are less than men’s in almost all of the top 20 most common occupations for women; and all of the top 20 most common occupations for men.

CLOSING THE PAY GAP

IWPR’s Nicole Mason recently joined the Advisory Board of OPEN Imperative; a new initiative with a goal of closing the gender pay gap in start-up and new businesses within five years; an ambitious goal that will require both public and private partnerships and collaboration. “We all need to work together to close the pay gap and bring true gender equity to the workforce. Government, employers, and employees all have a role to play,” stated Mason. “The pandemic presented us all with new challenges; but I am hopeful that all parties can work together to make real progress on this important issue. Closing the pay gap is a win-win scenario that will reap great dividends for the US economy and the financial security of women and their families.”

“We know that no group is better positioned to advance progress on pay equity than CEOs and the ecosystems that support them,” added Emily Sweet of OPEN Imperative. “The OPEN Imperative was created to harness the power of data and technology and move companies from good intentions to quantifiable action.”

Gender equity and the wage gap will also be a topic at IWPR’s upcoming Power+ Summit on April 26–28 in San Francisco and streamed virtually nationwide. You can read IWPR’s latest pay gap research here.

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