It Gets Worse with Time: An Examination of the Gender Pay Gap Among Government Employees

Abstract

More than fifty years after the enactment of the Equal Pay Act, it is not clear that women receive equal pay for equal work. Multiple analyses show economic trends indicating that women earn less than men despite the fact that they attain college education at comparable rates. While these trends are informative, they have also raised questions regarding the conditions in which the gender pay gap is likely to emerge. We examined this issue using two separate salary data sets for the wages of government employees. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we accounted for differences within individuals, specific employment positions, and state agencies. Our analyses showed consistent support for an overall gender pay gap, but they indicated that this inequity was attenuated in at least one female-dominated occupation (secretarial positions). Contrary to our expectations, we found that while there was a gender pay gap in leadership positions, at non-executive levels it was not greater than that of the rest of our sample. Our results also offered insight into the positive relationship between employee tenure and the gender pay gap. We discuss the implications of these findings as well as opportunities for new research.