By Tom Spiggle
By now you’ve probably heard of the gender pay gap. It gets especially a lot of attention on Equal Pay Day.
This year, Equal Pay Day was March 21, as that’s how far into 2021 the average American woman had to work (in addition to working all of 2020) to make as much money as the average American man earned in 2020.
Over the past few decades, this gender pay gap has been narrowing. But it’s a slow process and at the current rate, the gender pay gap will remain until 2059.
The gender pay gap still exists for a variety of reasons, even after accounting for non-gender worker characteristics.
Raw Versus Controlled Gender Wage Gap
When comparing the median salary between men and women, a 2021 report from Payscale reports that women earn 82 cents for every dollar men make. This 18% difference is the raw gender pay gap.
However, when accounting for other factors besides gender, such as in education, experience, location, and industry, the gender wage gap shrinks dramatically to just a 2% difference. So the controlled gender pay gap means that women are making 98 cents for every dollar men make.
