CPA News Releases, Advisories, and Editorials

WASHINGTON – A new report released today commissioned by the AFL-CIO showing that women still earn 74 cents to every $1 earned by a man demonstrates the urgency of a new economic agenda for America that recognizes and realizes the economic power and potential of American women. “Closing the pay gap and offering equal benefits and pensions to women workers is vital to our nation’s future economic health,” said Linda Tarr-Whelan, President and CEO of the Center for Policy Alternatives, authors of America’s Economic Agenda: Women’s Voices for Solutions.

“Each year, women and their families lose a total of $200 billion due to unequal wages. We cannot afford to go into a new century with women continuing to trail in wages, pensions, and benefits and still hope to sustain the economic strength, growth, and opportunity we enjoy today. It will not happen,” said Tarr-Whelan, who also serves as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.

Many state leaders recognize the impact that this loss is having on their state economies and they are taking action to address it. Legislative proposals put forth to address this issue range from a New York bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Joan Christensen, that would amend the state constitution to make it a constitutional right to receive equal pay for comparable work; to a pair of bills introduced by Representative Lynne Martinez in Michigan that would make it illegal to discriminate based on gender or disability; to a Missouri bill sponsored by Representative Joan Bray that not only outlaws wage discrimination, but also requires data collection and reporting, and provides remedies for employees who are victims of wage discrimination.

“Equal pay is an issue that impacts families — 63% of women with children under age six are in the labor force, in full or part-time jobs, and 78% of women with children 6-17 are in the labor force,” stated Tarr-Whelan.

Equal pay is the first recommendation in the Center for Policy Alternatives’ report, America’s Economic Agenda: Women’s Voices for Solutions, which puts forth a women-led economic agenda for America. The comprehensive agenda offers state policy recommendations to secure women’s economic self-sufficiency; opportunity for entrepreneurship, health and security, and a balance between family and work. In addition to equal pay, specific recommendations include providing pro-rated benefits for part-time workers, ensuring a living wage, and promoting retirement security and economic literacy for girls.

Sparked by the Center for Policy Alternatives, bi-partisan coalitions of women legislators, business and community leaders in 20 states held coordinated press conferences on January 14th to issue a new challenge to secure America’s economic future by investing in the power and potential of women. Equal pay was at the core of the agenda for several states.

“It’s taken thirty years at a minuscule half cent a year to close the gap between women’s and men’s wages from 59 cents on the dollar to 74 cents in 1999,” said Tarr-Whelan. “Worse, the current pay gap is the same as it was in 1997. We’ve hit a wall and we’ve got to find a new way to break through.” April 3rd will mark Equal Pay Day, the day symbolizing the point into the new year that a woman must work to earn the wages paid to a man in the previous calendar year.

From the factory floor to the executive offices, in the professions, in construction, and in education, women earn less than men doing the same jobs. The average pay for all working women is twenty-six cents less on the dollar than for men. For African American and Hispanic women – who earn 63 cents and 56 cents on the dollar, respectively – the pay gap is even greater.

The equal pay report was commissioned by the AFL-CIO and carried out by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. For more information on the study or a copy of the findings, please contact Karen Nussbaum, Director of the Working Women’s Department at the AFL-CIO at 202/637-5064 or Heidi Hartmann at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research at 202/785-5100. The Center for Policy Alternatives will continue to monitor progress on this critical issue in the fifty states and to support the National Committee on Pay Equity in their leadership to raise awareness on April 3rd, Equal Pay Day.

The Center for Policy Alternatives is the nation’s leading nonpartisan public policy and leadership development institute that focuses on progressive change in the fifty states.

Snapshot of State Action on Equal Pay