An Update on the United States Gender Pay Gap

A new report from Bankrate, an independent publishing and comparison service, has provided an update on the current state of the gender pay gap in the United States. The report, which examined 2022 Census Bureau data, has found that while women have made significant progress in achieving gender pay parity, there are some industries, positions, and states where disparities are prevalent.

The gender pay gap is the largest for women of color. Black woman earn 69 percent as much as White men. For Hispanic women, the gap is even larger with this group earning 58 percent as much as White men. In 2022, White women workers earned 80 percent as much as their male peers. Asian woman have almost achieved gender parity, making 99 percent of White men’s earnings.

The industries with the largest gender pay gaps were finance, insurance, science, and tech industries, which historically are male-dominated fields. However, in 2022, women represented 54 percent of all finance and insurance workers, but only earned 61 percent as much as men in this industry. The other industries with the largest pay gaps were professional, scientific, and technical services with 72.1 percent; company and enterprise management with 72.5 percent; and health care and social assistance with 73.6 percent.

When broken down into specific jobs, the positions with the largest gender pay gaps were cardiovascular technicians, title examiners, and personal financial advisors, with women in these roles earning 61.3 percent, 62.7 percent, and 63.1 percent of their male counterparts, respectively. On the other hand, there are many jobs were women’s pay is almost equal to men’s earnings. Women in wholesale and retail buying positions earn 99.3 cents to the dollar of their male peers. Similar small gaps were seen in chemical engineers with 98.4 cents to the dollar, and news reporters with 98.2 cents to the dollar. The report found a dozen jobs were women’s earnings were greater than their male peers.

The U.S. states with the smallest gender pay gaps were Vermont with 89.3 cents, California with 88.2 cents, and New York with 87.5 cents earned by women for every dollar earned by their male peers. The largest gender pay gaps were found in Utah, Louisiana, and Alabama, with a women-to-men earnings ratio of 73.1 percent, 74.8 percent, and 75 percent, respectively.

The full report from Bankrate can be accessed here.