Pay Gap Narrowing but Not Closed

The pay gap between men and women’s average salaries in the government is narrowing, mainly because the men and women in the federal workforce are more alike in characteristics related to pay, GAO has said. From 1988 to 2007, the gender gap declined from 28 cents to 11 cents on the dollar, GAO said, and for each year studied, "all but about 7 cents of the gap can be accounted for by differences in measurable factors such as the occupations of men and women and, to a lesser extent, other factors such as years of federal experience and level of education. The pay gap narrowed as men and women in the federal workforce increasingly shared similar characteristics in terms of the jobs they held, their levels of experience, and educational attainment."