CA's 2022 Gender Pay Gap: What To Know

CALIFORNIA — International Women's Day is Tuesday. In honor of women everywhere, a recent report examined the gender pay gap across the United States.

In California, the average salary for women is $56,200 while men make $62,463 annually — that's 86 cents a woman earns for every $1 a man earns, according to the March report from Business.org.

That means Golden State women make 14.5 percent less than men.

"Many systemic issues are at the root of lower wages for working women—not just gender discrimination, but also racial discrimination, the devaluation of ‘women’s work’, the absence of supports for essential family care, and more," according to Janelle Jones, chief economist for the US Department of Labor.

Researchers at Business.org used data from the the 2020 American Community Survey and ranked states based on the percentage difference between women’s and men’s earnings for full-time, year-round workers.

The report also used a "stop-pay" methodology, where dates are based on the day of the year women start working for free based on the gender pay gap in that state. In California, the stop pay date was Nov. 7.

The report revealed that the gender pay gap hadn't closed by much in the last decade.

"Even the states with the smallest gender pay gap still face wage gaps ranging from 8.1 percent to 15.3 percent between men and women in similar roles, which translates to thousands of dollars missing for women doing the same work," according to the report.

Washington DC reportedly pays women the highest median salary and has the smallest wage gap in the country at 8.1 percent. States with the biggest wage gaps range from 21.8 percent to 34.6 percent.

"Maintaining internal equity in the workplace has to begin with the proactive creation of a robust compensation structure that details pay relationships specific to your workforce. Conducting regular internal audits is necessary to uncover bias and any gender or racial pay gaps." Stephen Light, co-owner and chief marketing officer at Nolah Mattress, told Business.org.

Read the full report here.