Department of Labor Study Finds Wage Gap For Women Persists in Pandemic

SALISBURY, Md- As part of Women’s History Month, a report was just released by the Department of Labor Women’s Bureau revealing women’s wages and how the pandemic impacted them the most.

The report found that women were already earning less than men do before the pandemic due to a process they describe as occupation segregation, where women tend to be overrepresented in low-paying jobs and under-represented in high-paying ones.

Department of Labor Regional Director Nicole Neri tells us the pandemic only made that worse, as child care options closed forcing many women to leave the workforce.

“When a large group of workers women workers and women of color are earning less or have artificially lower wages or are being pushed out of the workforce the entire economy suffers,” Neri said. 

Neri tells us Black women have seen the highest disparity in pay for work compared to white men. She says for those workers and their yearly salary, they’d have to work an extra three months in a year to catch up with their male counterparts.

Her office is working to get women into higher-paying jobs like construction and tech with specialized grants and incentive programs.