- A new system launched on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the enforcement of the Equal Pay Act analysis About the wage gap between men and women.
- An estimated $61 trillion in wages has been lost to working women since the law was passed, the study found.
- The wage gap may not close until 2056, according to the Center for American Progress.
The equal pay law was passed 60 years ago today, but it could be another 33 years before women receive the same pay as men, new analysis shows.
The gender pay gap has been narrowing for decades, but it may not be fully closed until at least 2056, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress. The analysis is released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of federal legislation prohibiting wage discrimination based on wage discrimination. about sex.
The Progressive Policy Group found that if this gap continued to shrink at the same rate since passage in 1963, median full-time women would earn the same as men about 93 years after the Equal Pay Act was passed. It may take longer for women of color to achieve the same pay parity.
Using decades of census data, CAP estimates that women lost about $61 trillion in the 60 years since the law was passed. current national debt $31.9 trillion.
Census data cited by the CAP show that in 1963, a typical full-time woman earned 59 cents for every dollar men earned, while all working women earned about 37 cents for every dollar men earned. was a cent.
The 2021 Census found that full-time women earned about 84 cents on the dollar for men, while all working women earned about 77 cents on the dollar. But the group reported that the difference was even greater for women of color. working latina And black women earn 57 and 67 cents for every dollar white men bring in.
A variety of factors contribute to wage inequality, from unconscious biases against mothers in the workplace, to the overrepresentation of women in low-paying jobs such as teaching, to the fact that the wage gap tends to widen as women get older. doing. According to census data.
This disparity is driven by a variety of reasons, including laws such as the Equal Pay Act, the recent Pay Transparency Act and other anti-discrimination laws, as well as increased attention to the issue and the creation of several “equal pay days”. It has shrunk over the last 60 years. . ”
Changes in social norms, such as women choosing to have children later in life or not, and an increasing proportion of well-educated women in high-paying jobs traditionally dominated by men have also contributed to narrowing inequality. An insider previously reported that it does.