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美国男女薪酬差距可能在2022年缩小,但为什么这不是好消息?

美国男女薪酬差距可能在2022年缩小,但为什么这不是好消息?

Emma Hinchliffe 2021-03-27
有专家表示,性别薪酬差距可能缩小,但这对女性在经济上的进步却是坏消息。

美国的同工同酬日(Equal Pay Day)用于表示美国女性在新一年还需要额外工作多长时间,才能够得到和男性前一年工作一整年相同的薪资。但如今,这个日子往往被用来表示女性在工作中遭遇的不平等待遇。目前美国的性别薪酬差距为82美分对1美元,所以3月24日就是2021年的同工同酬日。但到2022年,有专家表示性别薪酬差距可能缩小,但这对女性在经济上的进步却是坏消息。

2020年,由于女性要照顾子女,而且新冠疫情对休闲餐旅等以女性为主的行业造成了严重冲击,因此许多从事低薪岗位的女性退出了劳动力队伍。事实上,这么多女性离开工作岗位或者失业,她们不再赚取工资可能会在2022年缩小性别薪酬差距(确定同工同酬日日期使用的数据滞后一年)。高收入女性没有遭遇同等水平的失业,因此可能会导致数据失真。美国国家妇女法律中心(National Women’s Law Center)对2020年的数据按季度进行分析后发现,年初的性别薪酬差距为81美分对1美元,年末为84美分对1美元。

国家妇女法律中心的总裁兼首席执行官法蒂玛·古斯·格拉芙斯表示:“如果最终性别薪酬差距小幅缩小的原因是更多女性离开了劳动力队伍,没有人敢说这是一场胜利。”

古斯·格拉芙斯建议,在准备这一刻到来的同时,重要的是把性别薪酬差距数字放到大环境下考虑。有多少女性依旧处在失业状态?(去年有近300万女性离开了劳动力队伍。)低薪岗位的失业率有多高?(在休闲餐旅行业,2月的失业率为13.5%,而总体失业率只有6.2%。)

她说:“我们将有机会更细致地了解薪酬差距。然后我们讨论的解决方案应该是从长远角度真正缩小薪酬差距,而不是依靠女性离开劳动力队伍来实现。”

同工同酬日衡量了美国所有职场女性与男性之间的薪酬差距;但不同种族的女性之间也存在巨大差异。在2020年消失的低薪岗位中,黑人和拉丁裔女性所占的比例更高,这意味着明年的薪酬差距计算中可能不会将这些女性考虑在内。

性别薪酬差距的出现有若干原因,例如工资歧视,即女性从事与男性相同或类似工作的薪酬更低;职业隔离,即女性更有可能从事低薪岗位;生育惩罚,即职场妈妈的收入低于职场爸爸,或者在生育之后重新进入职场的薪酬降低。

古斯·格拉芙斯支持通过《薪资公平法案》(Paycheck Fairness Act)和《怀孕工人公平法案》(Pregnant Workers Fairness Act),前者可以避免工作者因为讨论薪酬而遭到报复,并且更有利于就不公平薪酬提起集体诉讼,后者能够保护在怀孕期间要求有专用工作空间的员工。

虽然今年的同工同酬日数据并没有体现疫情的影响,但它确实让我们看到了在持续一年的大灾难降临之前的2019年,女性遭遇的薪酬差距。古斯·格拉芙斯说:“薪酬差距未来会变成财富差距。今年的数据向我们显示了进入经济衰退之前的基线男女不平等状况。”(财富中文网)

翻译:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

美国的同工同酬日(Equal Pay Day)用于表示美国女性在新一年还需要额外工作多长时间,才能够得到和男性前一年工作一整年相同的薪资。但如今,这个日子往往被用来表示女性在工作中遭遇的不平等待遇。目前美国的性别薪酬差距为82美分对1美元,所以3月24日就是2021年的同工同酬日。但到2022年,有专家表示性别薪酬差距可能缩小,但这对女性在经济上的进步却是坏消息。

2020年,由于女性要照顾子女,而且新冠疫情对休闲餐旅等以女性为主的行业造成了严重冲击,因此许多从事低薪岗位的女性退出了劳动力队伍。事实上,这么多女性离开工作岗位或者失业,她们不再赚取工资可能会在2022年缩小性别薪酬差距(确定同工同酬日日期使用的数据滞后一年)。高收入女性没有遭遇同等水平的失业,因此可能会导致数据失真。美国国家妇女法律中心(National Women’s Law Center)对2020年的数据按季度进行分析后发现,年初的性别薪酬差距为81美分对1美元,年末为84美分对1美元。

国家妇女法律中心的总裁兼首席执行官法蒂玛·古斯·格拉芙斯表示:“如果最终性别薪酬差距小幅缩小的原因是更多女性离开了劳动力队伍,没有人敢说这是一场胜利。”

古斯·格拉芙斯建议,在准备这一刻到来的同时,重要的是把性别薪酬差距数字放到大环境下考虑。有多少女性依旧处在失业状态?(去年有近300万女性离开了劳动力队伍。)低薪岗位的失业率有多高?(在休闲餐旅行业,2月的失业率为13.5%,而总体失业率只有6.2%。)

她说:“我们将有机会更细致地了解薪酬差距。然后我们讨论的解决方案应该是从长远角度真正缩小薪酬差距,而不是依靠女性离开劳动力队伍来实现。”

同工同酬日衡量了美国所有职场女性与男性之间的薪酬差距;但不同种族的女性之间也存在巨大差异。在2020年消失的低薪岗位中,黑人和拉丁裔女性所占的比例更高,这意味着明年的薪酬差距计算中可能不会将这些女性考虑在内。

性别薪酬差距的出现有若干原因,例如工资歧视,即女性从事与男性相同或类似工作的薪酬更低;职业隔离,即女性更有可能从事低薪岗位;生育惩罚,即职场妈妈的收入低于职场爸爸,或者在生育之后重新进入职场的薪酬降低。

古斯·格拉芙斯支持通过《薪资公平法案》(Paycheck Fairness Act)和《怀孕工人公平法案》(Pregnant Workers Fairness Act),前者可以避免工作者因为讨论薪酬而遭到报复,并且更有利于就不公平薪酬提起集体诉讼,后者能够保护在怀孕期间要求有专用工作空间的员工。

虽然今年的同工同酬日数据并没有体现疫情的影响,但它确实让我们看到了在持续一年的大灾难降临之前的2019年,女性遭遇的薪酬差距。古斯·格拉芙斯说:“薪酬差距未来会变成财富差距。今年的数据向我们显示了进入经济衰退之前的基线男女不平等状况。”(财富中文网)

翻译:刘进龙

审校:汪皓

Equal Pay Day, the date that measures how far into the new year women in the U.S. had to work to earn what men did the year prior, is often used as a measure of women’s inequality at work. With the gender wage gap now clocking in at 82¢ on the dollar, March 24 marks Equal Pay Day 2021. But looking ahead to 2022, experts say the gap will likely shrink—and that that would be a bad sign for women’s economic progress.

In 2020, many women in low-wage jobs were forced out of the workforce as they took on childcare burdens and as the pandemic devastated the industries that disproportionately employ them, including leisure and hospitality. In fact, so many of those women left or lost their jobs that their absence as wage earners will likely reduce the gender pay gap in 2022 (the data used to set the date for Equal Pay Day exhibits a one-year lag). High-earning women haven’t suffered the same level of unemployment, which will likely help skew the data. The National Women’s Law Center crunched the numbers quarterly in 2020 and found that the gender pay gap began the year at 81¢ on the dollar and ended it at 84 cents.

“If we end up with a situation where the wage gap shrinks slightly, but it shrinks because we have more women out of the workforce, no one should be out there declaring that a win,” says Fatima Goss Graves, the president and CEO of the NWLC.

In preparation for that moment, it will be important to place gender wage gap numbers in context, Goss Graves advises. How many women are still unemployed? (Almost 3 million women dropped out of the labor force over the past year.) How high is unemployment in low-wage professions specifically? (In leisure and hospitality, the February unemployment rate was 13.5%, compared with a 6.2% overall unemployment rate.)

“It’ll be a chance for us to have a more nuanced understanding of the wage gap,” she says. “And to talk about the suite of solutions that stand to position us in the long haul so we are actually closing the wage gap—not through women being driven out of the workforce.”

Equal Pay Day measures the pay gap between all U.S. working women and all U.S. working men; of course, significant disparities exist by race. Black women and Latinas are overrepresented in the kinds of low-wage jobs that disappeared in 2020—meaning they are the women who may be missing from next year’s wage gap calculations.

The gender pay gap exists because of several factors, from wage discrimination, where women earn less than men for the same or comparable work; to occupational segregation, where women are more likely to work in low-wage jobs; to the motherhood penalty, where women earn less than their male peers who are fathers or reenter the workforce at lower levels after becoming moms.

Goss Graves supports solutions like passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would protect workers from retaliation for discussing pay and better facilitate class action over unequal pay, and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which would protect workers who require accommodations to do their jobs during pregnancy.

And while this year’s Equal Pay Day data doesn’t yet reflect the effects of the pandemic, it does tell us what earnings women missed out on in 2019 just before they entered the yearlong catastrophe. “The wage gap becomes a wealth gap over time,” Goss Graves says. “This year’s numbers tell us the baseline inequality that we headed into the recession with.”

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