National Gender Wage Gap Widens in 2023 for the First Time in 20 Years, With Women Making 82.7 Cents on the Dollar Compared to Men, Down from 84 Cents in 2022
“The worsening gender wage gap is a national disgrace," says IWPR President and CEO Dr. Jamila K. Taylor.
New IWPR Analysis Reveals Economic Harm of State Abortion Bans
IWPR's latest report points to a clear correlation between abortion restrictions and economic underperformance, further highlighting that restrictions or total bans on abortion care not only jeopardize women’s health but actively harm state economies.
Understanding the Needs of Black Single Mothers in College
IWPR spoke with 25 Black single mothers as they strive for their college degree about the challenges they face and the programs that help them balance family with their academic careers.
As Apprenticeships Expand, Breaking Down Barriers to Women’s Economic Success
The apprenticeship route can offer an alternative to traditional college (and college debt), yet traditionally, women have been much less likely to be apprentices than men. Check out IWPR’s latest report analyzing whether the commitments to greater gender and racial equity in apprenticeship pathways are being realized and whether women and men are equally likely to achieve jobs with family-sustaining wages following apprenticeships.
IWPR is a “think tank with humanity,” and our mission is simple: win economic equity for all women and eliminate barriers to their full participation in society. Our Annual Report details how we strived to fulfill our mission in 2023 and provides a detailed picture of our mission and values, our impact, and how we do what we do.
New March jobs data show that nearly one million (916,000) new payroll jobs were added, yet only one-third of these went to women (34.4 percent, or 315,000 payroll jobs). This marks an increased widening of the gender gap in recovery for a second month in a row. Women still need 4.6 million more jobs to get back to pre-COVID-19 levels, compared to men who need 3.8 million more jobs.
As the Biden-Harris administration seeks to hasten the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, reforming the U.S. higher education system to ensure equitable access and attainment for all adults is more important than ever. The pandemic has disproportionately increased the caregiving, financial, and emotional burdens on student parents and their families—most of whom are mothers, students of color, adult and working learners, students with low incomes, and first-generation students [...]
In 2020, women earned less than men in almost all occupations, whether they worked in predominantly male, predominantly female, or more integrated occupations.
In the lowest paid of the largest 20 occupations for women, Maids and Housekeepers ($503 per week), women are nine-in-ten workers (and face a wage gap of 10.6 percent); in the highest paid of the largest 20 occupations for men, Chief Executives ($2,402 per week), women are fewer than one-in-three workers (and face a wage gap of 24.4 percent).
Postsecondary attainment is widely recognized as key to accessing living-wage careers—in addition to fulfilling workforce demands and elevating the United States’ standing on the world stage. While much of the work to increase attainment rates has recognized the role of reengaging adults who have some college credit, but no degree or certificate, less attention has been paid to the salience of parenthood in adults’ postsecondary experiences.
The skilled construction trades provide opportunities to build careers that are both challenging and fulfilling, pay a family sustaining wage with benefits, and can be accessed through ‘learn as you earn’ apprenticeships. Apprenticeships are particularly common in the unionized sector of the construction industry, where contractors and unions jointly run and fund apprenticeship programs.
In 2019, the median earnings of Asian American and Pacific Islander women for a year of full-time work were just 84.6 percent of White non-Hispanic men’s, and just 73.3 percent of the median annual earnings of Asian American and Pacific Islander men.2 While Asian American and Pacific Islander women had the highest median annual earnings for full-time year-round women of the largest racial and ethnic groups in the United States, $55,0003 compared to $47,299 for all women workers,4 this hides large differences in the labor market experiences for different groups of women.
