The gender pay gap isn’t closing; mothers are penalized for becoming parents while fathers are rewarded; and working remotely carries an additional pay tax for women. These are just some of the conclusions reached in a major new report which draws on pay data from over 600,000 U.S. workers.
Compiled by Payscale Inc, a provider of compensation data, software and services, the report found that, on average, women earn 83 cents for every dollar taken home by a comparable man which, despite new pay legislation and national efforts to clamp down on inequality, remains virtually unchanged from a year ago.
Working mothers, the report found, earn just 75 cents compared to working fathers, and the gender pay gap widens as women progress in their careers. It stands at 87 cents when they enter the workforce but reaches, on average, 82 cents by the time a woman is 30 to 40 years old, and 74 cents by the time she is 45.
According to the data, the pay gap is 10 cents wider for women who work remotely—at 79 cents—compared to women who work in-person. Payscale also found that working fathers actually earn, on average, 15% more than men without children implying a fatherhood bonus compared to a motherhood penalty, as it’s often referred to.
In its calculations, Payscale distinguishes between the controlled and uncontrolled pay gaps. The former refers to a comparison between women and men doing exactly the same job with the same qualifications—what’s commonly referred to as “equal pay for equal work.” By that metric, Payscale found, the gap has almost closed with women making 99 percent of what their male counterparts earn. The uncontrolled gap, however, remains entrenched and largely unmovable despite policy efforts, especially in the form of pay transparency laws in states like California, Connecticut and New York.
“Pay transparency laws present a unique and distinct advantage for those entering the job market, especially to those affected by pay gaps such as women. Candidates now have access to salaries on job postings before applying, which gives them an understanding about how to negotiate their compensation. The laws also empower women to seek higher paying roles, helping to end a long cycle of inequality,” said Lulu Seikaly, senior corporate employment attorney at Payscale. “We are still in the early days of pay transparency legislation, but as these laws roll out globally, we hope to start seeing a significant impact soon.”
One marker of progress in the report is that, according to the data, the controlled gender pay gap has closed in 2024 for American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian, Black, and Hispanic women. Those groups have also experienced some progress in terms of the uncontrolled pay gap. Since 2019, the uncontrolled gender pay gap has closed by 5 cents for Black, American Indian and Alaskan Native women, to 80 cents, 74 cents and 74 cents respectively, and by 4 cents for Hispanic, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander women, to 79 cents, 80 cents and 80 cents, respectively.
Over that same period, the uncontrolled gender pay gap for white women has closed by just 2 cents to 83 cents and by just 1 cent for Asian women, to 96 cents.
Forbes
