Young women earn as much or more than their male counterparts in 22 U.S. cities, Pew Research found in a new research report. This could be a sign that women’s educational gains and wage transparency laws are helping to reduce the gender pay gap, but it’s still far from the norm, experts say.
This “reverse wage gap”, where women earn more than men, is an atypical situation, with women continuing to earn less than men in more than 90% of the approximately 250 cities analyzed by senior Pew Research researcher Center, Richard Fry. Nationwide, full-time working women take home 82 cents for every dollar full-time working men earn, Pew said.
It should also be noted that the study focuses on women under 30 years of age. Economists have long observed that the gender pay gap tends to narrow when women are younger, and that women tend to lag behind their male counterparts as they age. This is often due to the “maternity penalty” that women face when they have families.
In other words, the “reverse wage gap” in these 22 cities is a sign of some progress, but the problem of gender wage bias is far from over, experts say.
“Every time we’re seeing a gender pay gap close it’s a reason to celebrate, but we should look at this data with a warning,” said Emily Sweet of OPEN Imperative, a coalition of business executives and investors. who have pledged to reduce the gender pay gap.
He added: “The gap persists for women in other parts of the country, especially in smaller cities and the Midwest in particular. And the closure of the gap is short-lived and widens throughout the career. of a woman “.
About 1 in 6 young women working full-time live in the 22 cities where women earn as much or more than men, Pew said.
Women living in Midwestern cities experience the largest gender pay gaps, earning about 90 cents for every $ 1 earned by their male counterparts, Pew said. In comparison, young women in other regions earn about 94 cents for every $ 1 earned by young men.
The MBA salary gap
Women now account for about 60 percent of college enrollment, but Amy Stewart of PayScale, a senior content analyst and marketer, said a college degree doesn’t always lead to pay equity. In fact, women tend to earn less compared to more educated men, PayScale found in its annual report on the gender pay gap.
“We’ve found that the gender pay gap has little or no improvement in higher education levels compared to a high school diploma,” Stewart said in an email. “This is especially true for women with an MBA, who take home only $ 0.76 for every dollar that men with an MBA take home.”
Some of the cities where women are on par or earn more than men are in states that have passed laws that prohibit companies from asking about pay history, Stewart said. “We know [that] it is having an impact on closing the wage gap, “he said.
For example, many of the cities where young women earn more or the same as young men are in California, where employers cannot ask job seekers about their previous wages. Historically, women and people of color experience lower wages due to gender and racial bias, and when employers ask about salary history, these workers may be stuck on lower wage pathways.
Below are the 22 metropolitan areas, along with what young women earn for every dollar earned by young men.
- Wenatchee, WA: $ 1.20
- Morgantown, WV: $ 1.14
- Barnstable Town, MA: $ 1.12
- Gainesville, FL: $ 1.10
- Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, FL: $ 1.08
- San Diego-Carlsbad, CA: $ 1.05
- Yuba City, CA: $ 1.05
- New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA: $ 1.02
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV: $ 1.02
- San Angelo, TX: $ 1.02
- Champaign-Urbana, IL: $ 1.02
- Lebanon, PA: $ 1.02
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA: $ 1.01
- Winston-Salem, North Carolina: $ 1.01
- Iowa City, IA: $ 1.01
- Sacramento – Roseville – Arden-Arcade, CA: $ 1.01
- Flagstaff, AZ: $ 1.00
- Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA: $ 1.00
- Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA: $ 1.00
- Richmond, VA: $ 1.00
- San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles-Arroyo Grande, CA: $ 1.00
- Urban Honolulu, HI: $ 1.00
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