Employment and Earnings
Whether paid or unpaid, women’s work is crucial for their families’ economic security and well-being. Greater gender equality in paid and unpaid work will reduce poverty and improve economic growth and prosperity; persistent inequity in employment and family work is costing all of us. Women are held back by the undervaluation of historically female work, workplaces designed as if workers had no family responsibilities, and a broken-down work-family infrastructure.
IWPR’s Employment and Earnings program highlights the extent of pay inequalities, and the role played by stark occupational segregation in perpetuating unequal pay. We conduct research and analysis on women’s labor force participation and employment trends; workforce development, non-traditional employment, and apprenticeships; the impact of sex discrimination and harassment on women’s career advancement and mobility; the gender pay gap and pay inequity across race and ethnicity; work-family policies and employer practices; the and the impact of automation and technological advances on women workers.
We work with policymakers, employers, advocates, and practitioners to identify promising practices and policy solutions.
The Future of Care Work: Improving the Quality of America’s Fastest-Growing Jobs
Paid adult care work jobs are expected to increase substantially in the coming years, due to both an aging population and a comparatively low risk of automation for many of these jobs.
The Gender Wage Gap: 2018; Earnings Differences by Gender, Race, and Ethnicity
DOWNLOAD REPORT The ratio of women’s and men’s median annual earnings was 81.6 percent for full-time, year-round workers in 2018, a statistically insignificant change from 2017 when it was 81.7 percent.[1] This ratio means that the gender wage gap for full-time, year-round workers [...]
Women’s Median Earnings as a Percent of Men’s Median Earnings, 1960-2018 (Full-Time, Year-Round Workers) with Projection for Pay Equity in 2059
Women’s Median Earnings as a Percent of Men’s Median Earnings, 1960-2018 (Full-Time, Year-Round Workers) with Projection for Pay Equity in 2059
Women, Automation, and the Future of Work (Executive Summary)
According to Women, Automation, and the Future of Work, an Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) report, technological change will affect men and women differently in a number of ways. The first study of its kind in the United States, this report estimates the risk of automation across occupations by gender and presents a comprehensive picture of what we know—and what we don’t—about how the future of work will affect women workers.
Women, Automation, and the Future of Work
DOWNLOAD REPORT Read the full report Read the executive summary INTRODUCTION Why the Analysis of Technological Change Needs a Gender Perspective Automation, artificial intelligence, and other technological changes are already affecting the number and quality of jobs. The number of workers employed in [...]
The Gender Wage Gap by Occupation 2018
DOWNLOAD REPORT Women’s median earnings are lower than men’s in nearly all occupations, whether they work in occupations predominantly done by women, occupations predominantly done by men, or occupations with a more even mix of men and women. Data for both women’s and [...]