Dive Brief:
- Beginning September 2017, The Economic Employment Opportunity Commission will require companies with more than 100 employees to report wage information including gender, race, and ethnicity.
- The new federal rule, which does not require congressional approval, will be open for comments until April 1, according to a press release.
- Public support should be strong considering a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll of 1,610 adults found 70% of women and 61% of all respondents were in favor of more government involvement to ensure equal pay for all sexes with the same job.
Dive Insight:
The new rule may particularly affect the healthcare sector since 76% of hospital workers are women and 79% of healthcare and social assistance workers are also women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Wage gaps among male and female physicians have been reported in JAMA Internal Medicine, where a 2013 study showed female physicians made $50,000 less than male physicians. The wage gap between male and female physician assistants increased to almost 30% between 2006 and 2010 from only a 7% wage gap between 1987 and 1990.
A 2015 JAMA study found female registered nurses made $5,100 less per year than male nurses.
Women now compose almost half (47%) of the workforce, yet women earn nearly 21% less than men, a recent White House Council of Economic Advisers Issue Brief reported. It also stated the wage gap has been static since 2001, with only slight progress with closing the gap by 1.8% from 2012 to 2013, and 1.0% from 2013 to 2014.
Women see equal pay as a big issue; 41% call it their biggest concern, according to a 2014 Gallup poll.