THREE WAYS IN WHICH GENDER PAY GAP IS BIGGER THAN WE THINK.

Hello everyone It is like I have been silent for long but that one does not mean I not focusing on my research,I have been working very hard so that I get the information that I intended to tell you about it and I hope each and everyone will learn something.

The first thing is that,For inexplicable reasons, U.S. Soccer doesn’t value female and male players equally. It’s as straightforward as that. By their own calculations, U.S. female players make 38 cents for every dollar their male counterparts’ earn. As defender Becky Sauerbrunn summed up, “The bottom line is simple. It is wrong for us to be paid and valued less for our work because of our gender.”

It appears like the players will make strides in the wake of their recent victory, but land far short of equality at least in the short run. And while the case of U.S. soccer provides a conspicuous and clear-cut example of injustice, the reality is that pay inequality is a pervasive issue across occupations, age, and race in the U.S.

Study after study has identified a persistent gender pay gap. A PayScale report found that women still make only $0.79 for each dollar men make in 2019. A Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analysis discovered that in 2018, median weekly earnings for female full-time wage and salary workers was 81% of men’s earnings. “Women had lower median weekly earnings than men in most of the occupations for which we have earnings data for both women and men,” the BLS report found. The data is starker for minorities. The PayScale report found that the largest pay gap is for black female executives who earn only $0.63 for every dollar a white male executive earns.

But the chasm is even bigger than those numbers alone indicate. Existing studies don’t reflect the true magnitude of the gender wage gap because they ignore important types of compensation. For example, the BLS report cited earlier ignores bonuses. Furthermore, most analyses I’ve seen don’t take into account employer retirement contributions (“matches”) or future Social Security benefits. As the U.S. Soccer Team prepares to fight the sexist soccer forces, it’s worth expounding on three ways that the gender pay gap is often underestimated.

The next thing I would like to talk about it is the disparities in bonuses:

The first thing is about,A recent pay equity study by ADP shows “a vast percentage difference between female and male compensation originates from a difference in bonus pay.” However, many studies don’t include this in the calculation. For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a commonly cited source for pay gap analyses; however, its weekly earnings data does not include bonuses (though another commonly used data source, the Census Bureau, does include bonuses in calculating women’s median yearly earnings).

When ADP analyzed base and incentive pay fluctuations of over 11,000 employees in the U.S. between 2010 and 2016, it concluded that bonuses play an instrumental role in determining who does or does not close the pay gap between genders and that bonuses exacerbated existing inequality

The report found that the average bonus for women was less than two-thirds what was paid to men, even when controlling for base pay, age, and tenure. The gap was also observed across different demographics such as age, salary, and industry groups. The findings are consistent in the U.K., which now requires firms to disclose compensation data, including differences in bonuses paid to women and men. Recent disclosures found that men are paid much higher bonuses than women in the U.K., with the finance sector having the biggest gap at 35%.

But women appear to be short-changed on 401(k) matches, a common employee benefit and a vital component of long-term financial security.

Many companies offer to match contributions that employees make to a retirement plan, like a 401(k), which not only incentivizes employees to contribute to their own long-term financial health, but also provides a healthy boost in their overall compensation.

(It’s worth noting that this is far from a ubiquitous benefit as only 75% of companies offer a match).

According to Vanguard, the average value of an employer match was the equivalent to 4.3% of pay (Fidelity computed a slightly higher average, 4.7%). Take notice of the percentage sign. Since employer matches are determined as a percentage of pay, they are yet another dimension that disadvantages women. While women are getting the same percent match, it’s often being calculated off a smaller earnings base, ultimately leading to a smaller dollar amount contributed.

In other words, if two employees are getting 4.3% of their pay in 401(k) matches, but one is earning $60,000 and the other only $50,000, there will be a difference in the value of their employer contributions.  The former will receive $2,580 in matching funds, while the latter would only receive $2,150, a difference of $430.

Great work and thank you.