Washington, D.C. – An Equal Pay Day report released today by the Joint Economic Committee shows that the pay gap between part-time and full-time workers is a key factor driving the continued pay gap between men and women.
The report titled, “The Earnings Penalty for Part-Time Work: An Obstacle to Equal Pay,” shows that part-time workers earn significantly less than their full-time counterparts and that women make up close to two-thirds of part-time workers. The JEC report can be viewed here.
The JEC report reveals that:
- In 2009, over 17 million women worked part time. Out of the pool of individuals who work part time, nearly two-thirds are women.
- In many of the
occupations with large shares of part-time workers, employment is dominated by
women:
- Women make up over half (56 percent) of the employees working in food preparation and serving related jobs, where 49 percent of workers are employed part time.
- Over three-quarters (77 percent) of personal care and service positions are held by women – an occupation where 43 percent of employees work part time.
- Part-time workers across a spectrum of occupations earn hourly wages below those of full-time workers, which contributes to the wage gap between men and women.
- Evidence shows that part of the long-run earnings gap between men and women may be explained by the longer time that women, relative to men, spend working part time.
- The part-time earnings penalty has had a particularly large impact on families during the Great Recession since the number of part-time workers who would like full-time work has increased by 4.4 million workers since the recession began in December 2007.
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Chair of the JEC, stated, “It is inexcusable that 47 years after President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, women continue to be paid less than their male counterparts. As this report shows, the part-time earnings penalty plays a part in the wage gap and it’s the families women support who are paying the price.”
Maloney continued, “I am proud that Congress passed legislation that President Obama signed into law strengthening the rights of women and other workers to challenge unfair pay. In our ongoing efforts to achieve paycheck fairness for women, we need to also look for ways to eliminate the part-time penalty.”
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The Joint Economic Committee, established under the Employment Act of 1946, was created by Congress to review economic conditions and to analyze the effectiveness of economic policy.
