page_title: Gender pay gap in the United States
hierarchical_section_title: Gender pay gap in the United States
caption_attribution_description: English: Median weekly earnings of full-time US wage and salary workers, by sex, race, and ethnicity, 2009
context_page_description: The gender pay gap in the United States is the ratio of female-to-male median or average yearly earnings among full-time, year-round workers.
  The average woman's unadjusted annual salary has been cited as 81%
  to 82% of that of the average man's. However, after adjusting for choices made by male and female workers in college major, occupation, working hours and parental leave, multiple studies find that pay rates between men and women varied by 3-6 %, or a female earning 94-97 % of that of the average male's. The remaining 3-6 % of the gap has been speculated to originate from other unmeasured differences, a greater value placed on non-wage benefits, potential gender discrimination, and a difference in willingness and/or skills to negotiate salaries.
  The extent to which discrimination plays a role in explaining gender wage disparities is difficult to quantify, due to a number of potentially confounding variables.
context_section_description: The gender pay gap in the United States is the ratio of female-to-male median or average (depending on the source) yearly earnings among full-time, year-round workers.
  The average woman's unadjusted annual salary has been cited as 81%
  to 82% of that of the average man's. However, after adjusting for choices made by male and female workers in college major, occupation, working hours and parental leave, multiple studies find that pay rates between men and women varied by 3-6 %, or a female earning 94-97 % of that of the average male's. The remaining 3-6 % of the gap has been speculated to originate from other unmeasured differences, a greater value placed on non-wage benefits, potential gender discrimination, and a difference in willingness and/or skills to negotiate salaries.
  The extent to which discrimination plays a role in explaining gender wage disparities is difficult to quantify, due to a number of potentially confounding variables. A 2010 research review by the majority staff of the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee reported that studies have consistently found unexplained pay differences even after controlling for measurable factors that are assumed to influence earnings – suggestive of unknown/unmeasurable contributing factors of which gender discrimination may be one. Other studies have found direct evidence of discrimination – for example, more jobs went to women when the applicant's sex was unknown during the hiring process then when it was known.
caption: Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers, by sex, race, and ethnicity, 2009.[1]
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