Since the 1960s, the gender pay gap in the United States has caused women to lose a staggering $61 trillion in earnings. As an accomplished SEO and elite copywriter with exceptional proficiency in the English language, I have rephrased the aforementioned title to make it sound more polished and refined while still delivering the same message effectively.

Wage Gaps Persist Despite Equal Pay Act

Wage gaps still exist along gender and racial lines in the United States, costing American women 61 trillion dollars since 1967. The Equal Pay Act was signed 60 years ago, but it hasn’t closed the gap. Women who worked full-time in 2021 earned 84 cents to their male counterparts’ dollar, but the gap widens further to 77 cents to the dollar when part-time workers are included. It is projected to take until 2056 for the median of those women to match their male counterparts’ salaries, and even longer for women of color.

Racial and Gender Category Wage Gaps

Wage gaps are worse for women of color. In 2021, full-time Latina workers earned 57 cents compared to their white male counterparts’ dollar, while Black women earned 67 cents to the dollar. The gap adds up to a loss of $9,954 per year for full-time, year-round female workers. When part-time workers are included, the gap widens further to $11,782 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Women are also more likely than men to work part-time.

Negative Impact on Women’s Economic Security

Rose Khattar, the director of economic analysis at the Center for American Progress, said, “That is a complete negative for women’s economic security. That’s lost wages that could have been injected into the economy in the form of consumer spending. That’s wages that women could have used in terms of investments to build up their wealth.”

Narrowing Wage Gap among Younger Workers

Although younger workers have a narrower wage gap than their older counterparts, wage gaps widen over time, according to an analysis of the pay gap published by Pew Research Center in March. Women have made gains in higher-paying jobs, but they are still overrepresented in lower-paying roles overall.

Pay Transparency Laws to Close the Gap

City- and state-level pay transparency laws can help close the gap as workers search for new jobs. The wage gap is also growing for never-married women, as a March report from Wells Fargo found.

Economic Impact of Wage Gaps

Khattar said, “It really impacts the way women are able to participate in the economy, more broadly. And it also limits our economic activity as a country.”

Conclusion

Despite the Equal Pay Act, wage gaps persist. Women who work full-time earn less than their male counterparts, and the gap is even wider when part-time workers are included. Women of color have it even worse, and the wage gap is projected to persist for decades. Wage gaps negatively impact women’s economic security and could have boosted consumer spending and investments. Narrowing the wage gap also reduces the economic inequality women face.