Income Inequality Is Going in the Wrong Direction Again

Part of it could be that women are dropping out of the labor force or working fewer hours than in previous years. “I think a lot of it comes down to this question of household composition and which workers are coming and going from the labor force,” said Amanda Nothaft, director of data and analysis at Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan. “The shortages post-pandemic pulled people into , but as the reality of making ends meet settled in, it may be that women cut back their hours or exited altogether,” because they couldn’t afford child care, she said.

“Women who might leave the labor force for child rearing or taking paid leave only make 76 cents compared to a man’s dollar,” said Lorena Roque, director of education, labor, and worker justice at the Center for Law and Social Policy. “Not having affordable child care, not having paid family medical leave—we’re seeing those gaps are widening, and they still exist.”

For women who do work full time, their earnings compared to men dropped for the second year in a row: the female-to-male earnings ratio dropped to 80.9 percent from 82.7 percent. (Median annual earnings for full-time women workers was $57,520 and for men it was $71,090, with men increasing their earnings faster than women.) The Institute of Women’s Policy Research said it was the biggest drop in the earnings ratio since 1966. Black and Latina women are hit especially hard by the earnings gap, and households headed by women do worse, too.