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  • Press Statement
  • IWPR Statement: Gender Wage Gap Narrowed in 2025, Reflecting Women’s Full-Time Work During Affordability Crisis

    Sep 15, 2026

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Sept. 15, 2025

    Contact: media@iwpr.org

    The following is a statement from Dr. Jamila K. Taylor, president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, on the Census Bureau’s report on the wage gap:

    After two years of the gender wage gap widening, women’s earnings for full-time year-round work in 2025 grew by 3.2% while men saw no statistical increase in their earnings. For women working full-time year-round, they earned 83.9 cents for every dollar earned by men working full-time year-round in 2025, compared with 80.6 cents in 2024. Women’s earnings relative to men’s have returned to where they were five years ago.

    For all workers with earnings (including part-time and part-year) in 2025, a woman earned 77.5 cents for every dollar earned by a man, up from 75.6 cents in 2024.

    These findings are surprising given that the weekly earnings gender wage gap widened for the third year in a row. This reflects a high-cost economy in which every household member needs to work as much as possible. Women still earn less than men, but their lower earnings grew at a higher rate.

    At IWPR, we remain committed to shining a light on the gender and racial wage gap and evidence-based policies that strengthen economic security and protect women workers. Additional analysis by demographic is forthcoming.