Equal pay for equal work is top of mind for many employers. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law in 2009, but that doesn’t mean that the gender pay gap disappeared entirely. Our newest Economic Research Report, Demystifying the Gender Pay Gap, shows that the disparity between men and women’s pay still exists.
Our research takes a look at hundreds of thousands of salary reports on Glassdoor shared by employees in the U.S., UK, Australia, Germany and France. The findings are clear: the gender pay gap is real in all of these countries. Furthermore, when adjustments were made for factors such as age, education, years of experience, industry, location and job title, the gender pay gap persisted.
Key findings
For the U.S., the research found:
- The gender pay gap is 24.1%, meaning women earn $0.76 for every $1.00 men earn. This is the unadjusted gender pay gap.
- When controls were factored in (age, education, years of experience, industry, location and job title) the pay gap shrank to 5.4%, meaning women earn $0.95 for every $1.00 men earn. We call this the adjusted gender pay gap.
The gender pay gap by industry
However, certain industries are better than others when it comes to providing equal pay for equal work. The industries with the biggest adjusted gender pay gap are healthcare (7.2%), insurance (7.2%), mining and metals (6.8%) and transportation and logistics (6.7%). The industries with the smallest gender pay gap were aerospace and defense (2.5%), agriculture and forestry (2.5%), biotech and pharmaceuticals (3.0%) and travel and tourism (3.0%).
The gender pay gap by job title
For the first time, our study also examines the gender pay gap as it relates to specific job titles (occupations). The job titles with the largest adjusted gender pay gaps are computer programmer (28.3%), chef (28.1%), dentist (28.1%), C-suite professionals (27.7%) and psychologist (27.2%).
Here are the 15 job titles with the biggest gender pay gaps:
15 Jobs With the Biggest Pay Gaps Between Men & Women
- 28.3% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.72 for every $1.00 men earn
- 28.1% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.72 for every $1.00 men earn
- 28.1% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.72 for every $1.00 men earn
- 27.7% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.72 for every $1.00 men earn
- 27.2% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.73 for every $1.00 men earn
- 21.8% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.78 for every $1.00 men earn
- 21.5% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.78 for every $1.00 men earn
- 18.2% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.82 for every $1.00 men earn
- 17.3% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.83 for every $1.00 men earn
- 16.0% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.84 for every $1.00 men earn
- 15.8% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.84 for every $1.00 men earn
- 14.9% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.85 for every $1.00 men earn
- 14.7% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.85 for every $1.00 men earn
- 14.6% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.85 for every $1.00 men earn
- 14.4% base pay difference
- Women earn $0.86 for every $1.00 men earn
The reverse gender pay gap
Conversely, there are some job titles that actually have a reverse gender pay gap, meaning women are paid more than men. The job titles with reverse gender pay gaps are social worker (-7.8 percent), merchandiser (-7.6 percent), research assistant (-6.6 percent), purchasing specialist (-5.5 percent) and physician advisor (-2.4 percent).
What you can do about the gender pay gap at your company
Regardless of whether you are hiring for any of these positions or not, being cognizant of the gender pay gap, adjusted and unadjusted, is critical to moving toward full gender equality.
Recruiters and HR pros in particular are one of the strongest agents for change when it comes to the issue of equal pay. To combat the gender pay gap at your organization, you first need to identify any pay gaps between men and women. See how you rate on Glassdoor in terms of compensation and benefits, and see if there are company reviews regarding unfair salaries by gender.
Once you’ve identified the problem (or lack thereof), talk about what your plan of attack is. Promote salary transparency internally and encourage employees to leave anonymous salaries on Glassdoor. Then, talk about what you’re going to do to dissolve the gender pay gap at your company and the steps your leadership team is making to level the playing field.
Lastly, go public with your efforts! Make salary transparency and dissolving the gender pay gap a part of your employer branding strategy. In fact, you can make a pledge publicly on Glassdoor that you are committed to pay equality - more than 1,700 employers to date have already done so! Have you? Then promote your efforts on your company’s Glassdoor profile so that potential job seekers who are researching your organization know they’ll be paid fairly at your company, regardless of their gender.
Curious to see if your employees are talking about your salary gap or benefits? Get a Glassdoor Free Employer Account and join the conversation today.
*For the purposes of this blog post, “job” and “job title” are used interchangeably with“occupation,” which is the term used in the official research report, Demystifying the Gender Pay Gap. The 15 Jobs With the Biggest Pay Gaps Between Men and Women is based on jobs (occupations) from the full data set in which men earn more than women. “Student” was excluded.
