NJ Wage Gap: Women Earn 20% Less Than Men

NEW JERSEY — With International Women's Day earlier this month, a recent study looked at the gender pay gap in the United States.

Women in the Garden State are overall making 19.8 percent less than men.

In New Jersey, women earn an average salary of $57,423 while men earn an average salary of $71,604 annually — that means a woman earns 80 cents for every $1 a man earns, according to the March report from Business.org.

The report also used a “stop-pay” methodology, in which dates are found on the day of the year when women begin working for free based on the state's gender pay gap. In New Jersey, the stop pay date was Oct. 25.

According to Janelle Jones, chief economist for the US Department of Labor, “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 support for essential family care, and more.”

According to the report, Washington, DC pays women the highest median wage and has the smallest wage gap in the country, at 8.1 percent. The states with the greatest wage disparities range from 21.8 percent to 34.6 percent.

“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,” the report said.

These are the top ten occupations with the largest pay gaps:

• Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents: 44 percent wage gap
• Legal occupations: 40 percent wage gap
• Medical scientists: 40 percent wage gap
• Personal financial advisors: 35 percent wage gap
• Engineering technologists and technicians: 34 percent wage gap

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the majority of women work in management, professional, and related occupations, followed by professional and related occupations and sales and office occupations.

These occupations have a wage disparity of 24%, 25%, and 21%, respectively.

“Every company needs to start by reviewing their hiring practices, the gender pay gap often starts right at the beginning. It's important to not rely on salary history to set pay for new hires, as you may be perpetuating past pay inequities. Be aware that some women are less likely to negotiate, so it's important to offer salaries that reflect the responsibilities of a role without relying on an individual to advocate for a certain salary,” said Mark Daoust, founder and CEO of Quiet Light.

Read the full report here.