The New York State Department of Labor released a new report regarding New York’s gender wage gap.
The endeavor shows that, while the gender wage gap in the State is the second smallest in the country, women in New York still earned 88 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2021. Findings show that over a lifetime this wage differential would cost a woman over $350,000 in diminished lifetime earnings. The gap grows further by race, with African American women paid about 68 cents on the dollar while Hispanic and Latina females are paid only 63 cents on the dollar.
In addition, the report found remote learning and pandemic-driven closures of childcare centers only further added to the gender wage gap by removing women from the workforce altogether to bear the weight of care responsibilities. Recommendations to change these issues for women include increasing pay for low-wage workers and expanding parental leave to union-represented state workforce.
