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Women in low-paying jobs are losing billions as U.S. gender pay gap persists, Labor Department says

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Women unite to demand equality in pay and an end of the wage gap

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Women in low-paying industries, particularly Black and Hispanic women, are losing billions of dollars every year — exacerbating an already stark gender pay gap in the U.S., according to a new analysis by the Labor Department.

This report ranks 20 of the most lucrative jobs in the country. It was released on Tuesday. Only one – nurse practitioner – is dominated by women. The majority of these jobs are over 75% male and nine are female. Eight of the lowest-paid jobs are held mainly by women.

This dynamic is called “occupational Segregation” by economists. Black women and Hispanic women are particularly vulnerable to it. According to the Labor Department, Black women could lose $39.3 trillion in wages due to differences in their industry or job concentration in 2019, according to estimates by Labor Department. Hispanic women were hit with a $46.7 billion increase in potential wages.

Sarah Jane Glynn is a Senior Advisor at the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau. She was also one of the authors. It not only stifles individuals’ potential but also hinders innovation. It reduces the adaptability of the workforce to changing conditions, which obviously impacts individual families’ financial security and their ability spend back into society.

This data is in line with Equal Pay Day which occurs annually on March 15. It marks the extra time that it takes for a woman to make the same amount as a man by the end the previous year. A government report shows that a full-time woman working in 2020 earned 82% more than a full-time man.

An analysis by private eyes shows that the gender gap continues despite increasing education levels for women. New reportPayscale is a compensation management company that found women with business master’s degrees earned only 76c per dollar for men who had an MBA. The salary for female lawyers is 89% higher than that of their male colleagues. 

“[W]”We can expect to see more pay compression, pay inequity, and wage inflation rising under the current pressures of increasing wages, wage hikes, and strong competition from talent,” stated Ruth Thomas, Pay Equity Strategist, Payscale.

According to the Labor Department, 42% of wage gaps are due to occupational segregation. This was made worse by the pandemic. Many of the front-line sectors that suffered from lockdowns are heavily populated by women. Women were at greater risk of being fired from these sectors.

Women accounted for half of all the 2020 layoffs, but 44% of retail workers were women in 2019. Black women accounted for 15% of job losses, while they constituted 6% of all retail workers. 

Education and Health: 75% of workers in education and health were female in 2019, and 79% in 2020. Black and Hispanic women accounted for a large portion of these losses. 

Glynn stated that these jobs are undervalued due to the people who do the work. “It’s the fact that it’s women – and often what color who are doing this labor – that has been shown to directly lead to its devaluation. This is why occupational segregation can contribute to the wage gap.

Officials from Labor pointed out a variety of social factors which contribute to occupational discrimination. These include unequal childcare responsibilities, lack of mentors and networks as well as workplace discrimination. The White House will announce a new regulation on Tuesday that would prohibit the use of previous salary histories in federal hiring processes in an effort to reduce the wage gap. The White House will also sign an executive order to promote transparency and pay equity among federal contractors. 

The future holds a silver lining: Segregation in occupational work is gradually declining with every generation. Glynn acknowledged that it may take many years for the industry to recover from the effects of the pandemic, and how tight the labor market will affect the future workplaces.

According to her, “It appears that we are seeing less gender diversity in terms of the jobs that people take over the years,” she stated.

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