NEW YORK — Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday announced the release of a new New York State Department of Labor report on the state’s gender pay gap.
This new report reviews the findings of the 2018 DOL study on the topic, while also examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on key factors traditionally associated with the gender pay gap, and making several policy recommendations designed to address the widespread problem.
“This report offers an important look into New York’s ongoing fight for equal pay and provides a roadmap to help our state close the gender pay gap once and for all,” said the Governor Hochul. “Too many women in the workforce are still being denied equal pay for the same work, and as New York’s first female governor, I am determined to make things right. My administration is fully committed to closing the gap. remuneration between the sexes”, in particular for single people. mothers and women of color who are disproportionately affected because better working conditions for women mean a stronger, fairer economy for all. »
The new report’s findings indicate that while New York’s gender pay gap is the second-smallest in the United States, women in New York earned 88 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2021. over a 40-year career, that gap would cost a woman $350,360. declining lifetime earnings. The gap is even wider for women of color. Compared to non-Hispanic white men, black or African American women are paid about 68 cents on the dollar, while Hispanic and Latina women are only paid 63 cents on the dollar.
The report also finds that the pandemic-triggered shift to remote learning and daycare closures has increased the severe impact of access to daycare, long a major issue for working women, on the employment gap. pay between the sexes. . With mothers shouldering the lion’s share of caregiving responsibilities, female labor force participation in New York City rose from 59.3% to 58.9% between 2019 and 2021, while the unemployment rate nearly doubled, from 4.2% to 8.2%. In 2021, more than 405,000 women were unemployed, a significant increase from 207,000 in 2019. The report notes that even temporary exit from the labor market can have significant long-term financial implications.
Remote work has helped some women and families juggle childcare, but not all. Nearly two-thirds of the state’s essential frontline workforce was made up of women, mostly women of color, for whom remote work was not an option.
The report includes several policy recommendations to build on the state’s desire to increase pay equity. Some of these key recommendations include:
- Raising the wages of low-paid workersincluding through proposals such as indexing New York’s minimum wage to inflation.
- Extend paid parental leave to union-represented state workers.
- Raise awareness of the New York State Equal Rights Amendment, it would add new protections against discrimination to the New York State Constitution.
- Improve data collection across the state to better understand employment trends and increase transparency.
- Modernize the Civil Service Department test model by offering all state tests online and on-demand.
The Ministry of Labor will also undertake several initiatives to support the goal of pay equity:
- Monitor the state’s gender pay gap and post annual updates on the department’s new Gender Pay Gap online hub.
- Educate employers about new laws on pay transparency and ensure their proper application.
- Raise awareness of publicly available data on job titles and salaries.
- Develop and launch a statewide paternity leave awareness campaign.
- Prioritize linking women with vocational training opportunities in the green economy as part of the Just Energy Transition Office proposal.
- Develop additional resources for businesses.
This report builds on Governor Hochul’s continued commitment to fighting for women’s equality. Since taking office, the Governor has signed groundbreaking legislation to protect reproductive rights, announced the largest investment in child care in state history, signed pay transparency legislation nationwide of the state to end the widespread pay gap for women and people of color, and signed landmark bills to empower survivors of sexual violence and harassment. Governor Hochul’s recent proposal to raise the minimum wage each year by indexing it to inflation would be a boost for 900,000 workers, most of whom are women.
New York State has taken many steps to promote pay equity in recent years, including enacting a salary history ban, which prohibits all employers from asking current or potential employees to know their salary history and compensation. NYSDOL also offers free resources to help all job seekers, including a salary negotiation guide to help New Yorkers make the most of their earning power.
To view the Gender Pay Gap in the Age of Pandemic report, visit the Gender Pay Gap hub, which will be updated with resources for employers and workers.