Florida has made "significant gains" in narrowing gender pay gap
MIAMI - The White House has declared March 14th National Equal Pay Day.
The date symbolizes how far into the year women must work to earn what men earned last year.
New numbers show that the gender pay gap hasn't changed much in two decades.
Pew Research numbers show women in the U.S. states are not expected to achieve equal pay until 2059. Across the world, the Gates Foundation is predicting completion dates for equal pay globally in 2277.
Julie Kampf is the founder and CEO of JBK International Associates in South Florida, a leader in recruitment and retention.
She said Florida ranks 19th in the nation for pay equality with an average gender wage gap of $9,240.
"If you look at certain areas of Florida, like Hollywood, they really have closed the gap significantly. In fact, women are actually earning more than men, almost five percent more to be exact. In this city of about 150,000 or so residents, women are earning more than $47,500, which is up almost 33 percent from 2017 to 2021," he said.
Marie Suarez, CEO of the Greater Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said she's proud her city is moving in the right direction.
"We're continuing to grow and were forward thinking and this is exciting and were very proud again of Hollywood to have made this mark for women," she said. "We're moving in the right direction here in Hollywood, we're forward thinking and women are welcome and encouraged and we'll pay them what they're worth."
Kampf said in Gainesville, young women are also out-earning younger men.
"The state of Florida is making some significant gains compared to the rest of the country," she said.
One study found that narrowing the wage gap could boost the worldwide economy by $7
trillion.
So why is it taking so long?
"I think we were making progress but then this nasty thing called COVI happened and that set us back hundreds of years. In fact, the numbers actually show that two million women stepped aside, out of the workforce during COVID. As you can understand, they are the typical caregivers, they are the ones that were staying home with the children as children were doing remote learning and it was very difficult, and is very difficult, to make up that time that they have taken away from the workforce. That was really a very significant aspect," said Kampf.
She said women in the workforce and those returning to it can take certain actions to boost their chances of equal pay.
"I think there's a number of things. First of all, you have to ask. You have to speak up and ask. You have to ask for a game plan for how to get to you where you want to go. If you can't get that game plan and you can't have somebody help sponsor you or mentor you to get you to that further place, then sometimes you need to leave. My understanding is that more senior women are leaving the workforce from one job to the next to get that pay bump. I would say raise your hand, take on new assignments, and say yes. Many times women tend to say no because they don't want to take on more responsibilities," said Kampf.
"We see that men typically put their hand up faster. So I would say be really confident in your ability. Make sure that your Linkedin presence and social media presence is really top-notch. Make sure that you ask for the additional assignments and make sure that you, in a nice way, demand that you are compensated for that extra," she added.