By CARRIE N. BAKER
The problem with these figures is that the wage gap only includes wages. But earnings include a lot more than just wages. Other forms of compensation must be calculated in earnings—such as health insurance, retirement account contributions, bonuses, and self-employment income.
According to the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, once you factor in these other forms of earnings, men actually earn 75 percent more than women—meaning that women on average earn only 57 cents on a man’s dollar.
A study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research found an even greater gap when measuring total earnings, with women workers earning a mere 49 percent—less than half—of men’s earnings.
If Equal Pay Day was based on this more comprehensive measure of the gendered earnings gap, the day would fall much later in the year—more like October.
And for women of color, you’d have to wait until the next year!
