Washington, D.C. — Today, the Center for American Progress released a new column examining the importance of experts and researchers including data on part-time and part-year workers—not just full-time employees—to calculate the gender wage gap. Including all workers reveals even more stark pay disparities by gender and race. As the column explains, women make up 60 percent of the part-time workforce, and caregiving demands, which are disproportionately shouldered by women in America, make it harder for them to maintain full-time, year-round employment.
The piece notes that current pay data calculations exclude data on 33 million women—42 percent of working women—who are disproportionately women of color. It also explains that including data on all workers shows that, in 2020, all working women were typically paid 73 cents per dollar that men earned, whereas full-time, year-round working women were paid 83 cents on the dollar. This translates into full-time working women being paid $10,435 less per year in median earnings, $13,551 less when considering all working women.
“With the Supreme Court appearing ready to overturn Roe v. Wade, which new research shows could exacerbate the gender pay gap by pushing women into lower-paying work, it is particularly crucial that we have a holistic understanding of the gender pay gap and how it affects all women workers, not just those able to work full time. That is why it is imperative for researchers to adopt a more inclusive definition when calculating the gender wage gap,” said Lauren Hoffman, associate director for women’s economic security at CAP.
Read the column: “Including All Women Workers in Wage Gap Calculations” by Lauren Hoffman and Bela Salas-Betsch
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Colin Seeberger at [email protected] or 202.741.6292.