New data released in January shows that in 2023 the gender pay gap in the U.S. narrowed to the smallest on record.
In 2023 the median weekly earnings for all women was 83.8 percent of what men were paid.
Before 2023, the gender pay gap saw virtually no improvement in two decades. In fact, in 2022, women earned 82 percent as much as men – barely an improvement from 2002 when women earned 80% as much as men. The halt in progress over the last two decades is significant, as progress was made in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
I have read that it could take 131 years to close the pay gap globally. That is a sobering number.
What can help? Pay transparency may be good for business. Washington State has already addressed that by requiring that pay range be listed in a job posting. Washington has passed a law prohibiting employers from requesting salary history from a job applicant before a job offer is made.
“Equal pay is about justice and fairness and living up to our values and who we are as a nation,” President Biden said on Equal Pay Day 2023. “Together, we have to make sure that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons.”
