---
title: "There’s more to the story of the shrinking pay gap"
description: "The hourly pay gap between women and men has narrowed to 16 cents today, compared with 36 cents in 1980. But progress has slowed in recent years and even reversed for many women over the course of their careers."
date: "2014-01-09"
authors:
  - name: "No Author"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2014/01/09/theres-more-to-the-story-of-the-shrinking-pay-gap/"
datasets:
  - name: "Higher Education/Gender/Work"
    url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/dataset/higher-educationgenderwork/"
---

# There’s more to the story of the shrinking pay gap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfD7C49v5Vg

The hourly pay gap between women and men has narrowed to 16 cents today, compared with 36 cents in 1980. But progress has slowed in recent years and even reversed for many women over the course of their careers. Today’s youngest group of working women are the first in modern history to start their working lives at near parity with men. But will they stay this close in the years to come? That remains to be seen.

In this video, we take a closer look at the nuances behind the pay gap -- including why it has narrowed but persisted over time -- and examine in new detail how different groups of young women entering the workforce since the 1980s have fared.

Read the report: [On Pay Gap, Millennial Women Near Parity – For Now](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/12/11/on-pay-gap-millennial-women-near-parity-for-now/)

### More on women, men and the workplace:

[Why it’s Great to Be the Boss](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2014/01/09/why-its-great-to-be-the-boss/%20)

[Who men and women prefer as their coworkers](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/16/who-men-and-women-prefer-as-their-co-workers/)

[Who’s the boss? In U.S. business, it’s mostly men](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/11/whos-the-boss-in-u-s-business-its-mostly-men/)

[10 findings about women in the workplace](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/12/11/10-findings-about-women-in-the-workplace/)

[How Pew Research measured the gender pay gap](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/11/how-pew-research-measured-the-gender-pay-gap/)