A new report has revealed that women in New York earned 87 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2023, highlighting persistent gender pay inequalities.
The report, released on Monday by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, said women would need to work an additional 53 days to match what men earned last year.
A women’s median earnings for full-time, year-round work in New York was $62,111, compared to $71,168 for men. This disparity marks a decline from 2021 and remains behind progress made in 2015.
“March is Women’s History Month and, unfortunately, the recent history shows that while a slight increase has been made in closing the gender pay gap, it’s not happening fast enough," DiNapoli said. "Policies to improve access to affordable childcare and paid leave can help narrow this gap, boost labor force participation, and improve the state’s economic health.”
While the state’s gender pay gap is narrower than the national average of 81 cents on the dollar, New York still ranked fourth best among U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. The national gap has averaged 6.7 percentage points wider than New York's since 2015, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
The report also highlighted significant disparities among education levels and occupational fields. Women in New York with a bachelor’s degree or higher earned 78 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts, compared to just 67 cents for women without a high school diploma.
In the legal field, the occupational group with the highest median earnings, women earned just 68 cents on the dollar compared to men, with median earnings of $113,699 versus $166,678 for men.
The report further noted that 56% of women in New York participated in the workforce in 2024, compared to 66% of men. Nationally, the participation rates were 58% for women and 68% for men, a disparity attributed to family and caregiving responsibilities that often limit women's participation in the labor force.
