Gender Pay Gap Report: Women Managers Still Lag Behind Men

Sept. 28, 2010— -- Women make up nearly half of America's workforce but the number of females in management positions and their corresponding pay still lags behind that of their male counterparts, according to a new government report.

The U.S.Government Accountability Office report, "Women in Management: Analysis of Female Managers' Representation, Characteristics, and Pay," released today found that little has changed for women in the workforce when it comes to compensation.

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. D-N.Y., and chair of the Joint Economic Committee, commissioned the report and is holding a congressional hearing today to discuss its findings.

"What is most startling to me is how little progress we've made even though there's a bright spot in that more women are gaining education, we're closing the education gap but we're not closing the pay gap," Maloney said.

Although there are more women represented across several industries, the number of women managers only increased by 1 percent -- from 39 percent in 2000 to 40 percent in 2007.

Women in non-managerial roles remained at 49 percent of the workforce.

The report analyzed 13 industries from construction to health care and looked at the pay gap between female and male managers. The factors used in determining the salary levels included age, hours worked and education.

Although the pay gap for female managers shrank by two cents from 2000 to 2007, female managers now only earn 81 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts compared to 79 cents in 2000.

For the first time, the report also looked at working mothers in management.

Working manager moms earned 79 cents for every dollar in comparison to working manager dads -- unchanged since 2000.

Education and Consumer Spending

In addition to examining the pay gap between female and male managers, the GAO report found that more women are earning college and graduate degrees.

The number of working women aged 25 to 64 with college degrees nearly tripled during the years 1970 to 2008.