Trends in Employment and Earnings
Women’s status in the area of employment and earnings has improved on two indicators since the publication of IWPR’s last national report on the status of women, the 2004 Status of Women in the States, and remained unchanged or declined on two others. Women’s median annual earnings for full-time, year-round work in 2013 ($39,157) were nearly identical to their earnings for similar work in 2002 ($39,108 when adjusted to 2013 dollars). The gender earnings ratio improved during this time from 76.6 to 78.3 percent, narrowing the gender wage gap by 1.7 percentage points, and the share of women working in professional or managerial occupations grew from 33.2 to 39.9 percent. Women’s labor force participation rate, however, declined from 59.6 in 2002 to 57.0 percent in 2014.
Paid Sick Days Expansion in DC Would Benefit Business, Reduce Health Care Costs
As the DC City Council considers the “Earned Sick and Safe Leave Amendment Act of 2013,” a proposed amendment that would expand the existing paid sick days law to more workers, a new analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) shows that providing paid sick days to newly covered workers under the proposed amendment is expected to save DC employers approximately $2 million per year.
Expanding Social Security Benefits for Financially Vulnerable Populations
Social Security benefits are especially important to populations that experience greater economic insecurity as they age — particularly women, people of color, and same-sex couples.
New Paper Outlines Improvements to Social Security to Strengthen Economic Security of Women, Low-Income People, and Same-Sex Couples
Today, the Older Women’s Economic Security Taskforce (OWES) of the National Council of Women’s Organizations and the Center for Community Change released a white paper proposing recommendations to improve Social Security for economically vulnerable Americans.
