The gender hole in pay has remained comparatively steady in america over the previous 20 years or so. In 2022, ladies earned a median of 82% of what males earned, in response to a new Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of each full- and part-time staff. These outcomes are just like the place the pay hole stood in 2002, when ladies earned 80% as a lot as males.
As has lengthy been the case, the wage hole is smaller for staff ages 25 to 34 than for all staff 16 and older. In 2022, ladies ages 25 to 34 earned a median of 92 cents for each greenback earned by a person in the identical age group – an 8-cent hole. By comparability, the gender pay hole amongst staff of all ages that 12 months was 18 cents.
Whereas the gender pay hole has not modified a lot within the final 20 years, it has narrowed significantly when taking a look at the long term, each amongst all staff ages 16 and older and amongst these ages 25 to 34. The estimated 18-cent gender pay hole amongst all staff in 2022 was down from 35 cents in 1982. And the 8-cent hole amongst staff ages 25 to 34 in 2022 was down from a 26-cent hole 4 many years earlier.
The gender pay hole measures the distinction in median hourly earnings between women and men who work full or half time in america. Pew Analysis Heart’s estimate of the pay hole is predicated on an evaluation of Current Population Survey (CPS) month-to-month outgoing rotation group information (IPUMS) from January 1982 to December 2022, mixed to create annual information. To know how we calculate the gender pay hole, learn our 2013 submit, “How Pew Research Center measured the gender pay gap.”
The COVID-19 outbreak affected data collection efforts by the U.S. authorities in its surveys, particularly in 2020 and 2021, limiting in-person knowledge assortment and affecting response charges. It’s attainable that some measures of financial outcomes and the way they fluctuate throughout demographic teams are affected by these adjustments in knowledge assortment.
Along with findings concerning the gender wage hole, this evaluation consists of data from a Pew Analysis Heart survey concerning the perceived causes for the pay hole, in addition to the pressures and profession objectives of U.S. women and men. The survey was performed amongst 5,098 adults and features a subset of questions requested just for 2,048 adults who’re employed half time or full time, from Oct. 10-16, 2022. Everybody who took half is a member of the Heart’s American Traits Panel (ATP), a web based survey panel that’s recruited by means of nationwide, random sampling of residential addresses. This manner practically all U.S. adults have an opportunity of choice. The survey is weighted to be consultant of the U.S. grownup inhabitants by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, schooling and different classes. Learn extra about the ATP’s methodology.
Listed below are the questions used on this evaluation, together with responses, and its methodology.
The U.S. Census Bureau has additionally analyzed the gender pay hole, although its evaluation seems to be solely at full-time staff (versus full- and part-time staff). In 2021, full-time, year-round working ladies earned 84% of what their male counterparts earned, on common, in response to the Census Bureau’s most up-to-date evaluation.
A lot of the gender pay hole has been defined by measurable factors resembling instructional attainment, occupational segregation and work expertise. The narrowing of the hole over the long run is attributable largely to features ladies have made in every of those dimensions.
Associated: The Enduring Grip of the Gender Pay Gap
Although ladies have elevated their presence in higher-paying jobs historically dominated by males, resembling skilled and managerial positions, ladies as an entire proceed to be overrepresented in lower-paying occupations relative to their share of the workforce. This will likely contribute to gender variations in pay.
Different components which can be troublesome to measure, together with gender discrimination, can also contribute to the continuing wage discrepancy.
Perceived causes for the gender wage hole
When requested concerning the components that will play a task within the gender wage hole, half of U.S. adults level to ladies being handled in another way by employers as a significant cause, in response to a Pew Analysis Heart survey performed in October 2022. Smaller shares level to ladies making totally different decisions about how one can steadiness work and household (42%) and dealing in jobs that pay much less (34%).
There are some notable variations between women and men in views of what’s behind the gender wage hole. Girls are more likely than males (61% vs. 37%) to say a significant cause for the hole is that employers deal with ladies in another way. And whereas 45% of ladies say a significant factor is that ladies make totally different decisions about how one can steadiness work and household, males are barely much less prone to maintain that view (40% say this).
Mother and father with kids youthful than 18 within the family are extra doubtless than those that don’t have younger youngsters at dwelling (48% vs. 40%) to say a significant cause for the pay hole is the alternatives that ladies make about how one can steadiness household and work. On this query, variations by parental standing are evident amongst each women and men.
Views about causes for the gender wage hole additionally differ by social gathering. About two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (68%) say a significant factor behind wage variations is that employers deal with ladies in another way, however far fewer Republicans and Republican leaners (30%) say the identical. Conversely, Republicans are extra doubtless than Democrats to say ladies’s decisions about how one can steadiness household and work (50% vs. 36%) and their tendency to work in jobs that pay much less (39% vs. 30%) are main the reason why ladies earn lower than males.
Democratic and Republican ladies are extra doubtless than their male counterparts in the identical social gathering to say a significant cause for the gender wage hole is that employers deal with ladies in another way. About three-quarters of Democratic ladies (76%) say this, in contrast with 59% of Democratic males. And whereas 43% of Republican ladies say unequal remedy by employers is a significant cause for the gender wage hole, simply 18% of GOP males share that view.
Pressures going through working men and women
Household caregiving obligations carry totally different pressures for working men and women, and analysis has proven that being a mom can reduce women’s earnings, whereas fatherhood can increase men’s earnings.
Employed men and women are about equally prone to say they really feel an excessive amount of stress to help their household financially and to achieve success of their jobs and careers, in response to the Heart’s October survey. However ladies, and significantly working moms, are extra doubtless than males to say they really feel an excessive amount of stress to concentrate on obligations at dwelling.
About half of employed ladies (48%) report feeling an excessive amount of stress to concentrate on their obligations at dwelling, in contrast with 35% of employed males. Amongst working moms with kids youthful than 18 within the family, two-thirds (67%) say the identical, in contrast with 45% of working dads.
In relation to supporting their household financially, related shares of working mothers and dads (57% vs. 62%) report they really feel an excessive amount of stress, however that is pushed primarily by the big share of single working moms who say they really feel an excessive amount of stress on this regard (77%). Amongst those that are married, working dads are way more doubtless than working mothers (60% vs. 43%) to say they really feel an excessive amount of stress to help their household financially. (There weren’t sufficient single working fathers within the pattern to research individually.)
About four-in-ten working mother and father say they really feel an excessive amount of stress to achieve success at their job or profession. These findings don’t differ by gender.
Gender variations in job roles, aspirations
General, 1 / 4 of employed U.S. adults say they’re presently the boss or one of many prime managers the place they work, in response to the Heart’s survey. One other 33% say they don’t seem to be presently the boss however wish to be sooner or later, whereas 41% aren’t and don’t aspire to be the boss or one of many prime managers.
Males are extra doubtless than ladies to be a boss or a prime supervisor the place they work (28% vs. 21%). That is particularly the case amongst employed fathers, 35% of whom say they’re the boss or one of many prime managers the place they work. (The various attitudes between fathers and males with out kids at the very least partly mirror variations in marital standing and academic attainment between the 2 teams.)
Along with being much less doubtless than males to say they’re presently the boss or a prime supervisor at work, ladies are additionally extra prone to say they wouldn’t wish to be in one of these place sooner or later. Greater than four-in-ten employed ladies (46%) say this, in contrast with 37% of males. Comparable shares of males (35%) and ladies (31%) say they don’t seem to be presently the boss however wish to be in the future. These patterns are related amongst mother and father.
Word: That is an replace of a submit initially printed on March 22, 2019. Anna Brown and former Pew Analysis Heart author/editor Amanda Barroso contributed to an earlier model of this evaluation. Listed below are the questions used on this evaluation, together with responses, and its methodology.
