We Can Do Better: Women's Pay Falling Further Behind Men's

How soon until we see income equality?

The economy may be doing better, but women’s pay is getting worse. For the majority of the last 30 years, the wage gap between men and women had begun to shrink, but it has since slowed. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, in 2012, women working full-time earned 80.9 percent of what men earned in weekly pay -- a drop from 82.2 percent in 2011. And in 2012, women made only 77 percent of what men did in annual earnings -- a .5 percentage drop since 2011. Ariane Hegewisch, one of the IWPR researchers, says the disappearance of middle-wage jobs has been a particular blow to women. “Job growth in the last year has been in retail, catering, and minimum-wage jobs where women are more likely to be at minimum wage,” she says, noting that higher-paying retail jobs like car sales are dominated by men. Additionally, women held a disproportionate number of public-sector jobs that haven’t come back. (Washington Post)

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