FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 15, 2022

Contact: William Lutz | lutz@iwpr.org | (202) 684-7534

Equal Pay Day 2022: Despite wage gains in recent months, women still earn just 83 percent of what men make across most sectors and occupations

Washington, D.C. — Women still 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. This year’s Equal Pay Day falls on March 15, 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 color 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,” said 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.”

IWPR’s new fact sheet reveals that wage gaps across gender, race, and ethnicity in 2021 were also profound. Compared to the median weekly earnings of White men working full-time, Hispanic women’s full-time earnings were just 58.4 percent, Black women’s 63.1 percent, and White women’s 79.6 percent.

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,” said 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 U.S. 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,” said 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 (by invitation) and streamed virtually nationwide. To learn more, please visit www.powerplus2022.com.

And read IWPR’s latest pay gap research here.

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The Institute for Women’s Policy Research strives to win economic equity for all women and eliminate barriers to their full participation in society. As a leading national think tank, IWPR builds evidence to shape policies that grow women’s power and influence, close inequality gaps, and improve the economic well-being of families. Learn more at IWPR.org and follow us on Twitter.