The gender wage gap was 33 cents to the dollar in 1980. Women have narrowed that gap to 15 cents in 2018, largely by making strides in attaining higher education and by meeting the needs of today's labor force, according to a report from the Pew Research Center.
A few key takeaways:
1. Wages are higher and rising faster for jobs that use social skills (24 percent increase from 1980-2018), fundamental skills (27 percent increase), analytical skills (29 percent growth) and managerial skills (29 percent growth). Jobs that use mechanical skills are not experiencing that type of growth.
2. Employment is growing most in social and fundamental skills jobs, where women also represent a majority of the workforce. Social skills jobs involve persuasion and negotiation, while fundamental skills jobs involve critical thinking and writing.
3. The report credits women's strides in narrowing the pay gap to women attaining higher levels of education and more women holding higher-skill occupations. The report notes that the persistence of the wage gap is due to a multitude of factors that include work experience and hours worked, as well as factors like discrimination and social networks.
4. More women than men are now graduating from college. However, gains hard won are easy to lose. The report notes that if women lose their lead in education, the gender wage gap would widen to 19 cents to the dollar.
The report is based on data from the Occupational Information Network. Read more here.
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