Movement in U.S. wage gap comes from top, not bottom
The text discusses the trend of wage equality between men and women since the 1980s. The women-to-men’s earnings ratio has increased from 0.64 to 0.84, meaning that women earn around 84 cents for every dollar earned by men. Progress in narrowing the wage gap has been slower since the 1980s, but there has been moderate progress recently among the top 10% of earners, with the ratio reaching 0.80. At the lower end of the income distribution, the wage gap has been narrower, ranging from 0.85 to 0.90 in the bottom 10% of earners. The cause of the current narrowing is uncertain, but industries with increasing numbers of female workers, such as management and professional occupations, have seen the wage ratio improve from 0.73 to 0.78. Policies like paid parental leave may further narrow the gender gap, particularly in higher-wage fields.