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March 27, 2024
This year, Equal Pay Day fell on March 12, 2024. Equal Pay Day is a day dedicated to raising awareness about the gender pay gap. In the U.S., this day (which changes from year to year) reflects how far into the year the average median woman must work to earn what the average median man earned the entire previous year. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) took Equal Pay Day as an opportunity to make available a data dashboard featuring the historic, first-time collection of pay data reported by 70,000 private employers and certain federal contractors with 100 or more employees each year, representing over 100 million workers.
EEOC regulations require certain employers covered by Title VII to report workforce demographic information to the EEOC. Since 1966, the EEOC has collected workforce demographic information from private employers and certain federal contractors. Beginning in 2016, the EEOC added a new disclosure requirement for covered employers – pay data. The 2017 and 2018 “Pay by Sex and Race/Ethnicity” data is now publicly available via an interactive dashboard found here. The EEOC data dashboard provides an unprecedented analysis of workforce demographic and pay data, reported by specific pay band.
The pay data shows that women are typically paid less than men in nearly every industry and job category, with woman of color being paid the least. In 2018, the national median pay band for men was one pay band higher than the median pay band for women ($39,000 to $49,900 compared to $30,600 to $38,900), and in 2017, it was two pay bands higher ($39,000 to $49,900 compared to $24,400 to $30,600). The data also shows that, in 2018, in each race and ethnicity category, women were in a lower median pay band than men of the same race or ethnicity, with Black or African American women and American Indian or Alaska Native women in the lowest median pay band of all groups ($19,200 to $24,400).
According to EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows, “[t]he dashboard illustrates what we have long known—that pay disparities based on sex and race persist in almost every industry both at the national level and in nearly every state. Women are paid less than men in the aggregate, and Black women and American Indian or Alaska Native women are paid the least. In addition, Black and Hispanic employees generally were in lower median pay bands than white employees in the same industries and job categories.” The data dashboard allows industries, employers, and individuals, for the first time, to assess how their pay by sex and race compares to others in their industry, job category, or state.
Many jurisdictions are working to promote pay equity by passing laws requiring disclosure of pay data, disclosure of pay ranges in job postings, and/or by prohibiting employers from inquiring about a job applicant’s pay history. We discussed some of these laws in previous articles: Columbus, Ohio; Washington, D.C.; Minnesota; Illinois; New York; Hawaii; Colorado; Washington State; California; and Mississippi. We expect and hope that these laws will result in positive changes in the EEOC’s pay data collections in the future.
This article is designed to provide one perspective regarding recent legal developments, and is not intended to serve as legal advice, nor does it establish an attorney-client relationship with any reader of the article where one does not exist. Always consult an attorney with specific legal issues.
