Subscriber Special: Fact Check Your Politicians on Equal Pay Day

April 10, 2018 11:00 AM

It's Equal Pay Day across America!

As politicians point fingers, it’s important to ask

how they're doing with their own hiring.

"Politicians talk about a 'war on women' in an effort to score political points. It’s time the American people used hard data to fact-check our politicians and demand results, not rhetoric."

n October, we published our OpenTheBooks Oversight Report – Federal and State Government’s Gender Hiring Gap Oversight Report analyzing payrolls from federal agencies, Congress, the White House, and government positions at the state and local levels. We found it’s still a man’s world in government. Across the board, we found that men significantly outnumber women in the top-paid government positions.

Here's how some members of Congress are doing on their own executive payrolls:

Nancy Pelosi – minority leader of the House On Equal Pay Day 2017, Pelosi issued a press release alleging that women earn only 80 cents for every dollar earned by men, on average. However, in Pelosi's office, male employees made $124,404 on average while female employees made $94,398. Does Pelosi’s call for equal pay not include her own office?

Paul Ryan – speaker of the House Ryan has faced allegations of fighting a "war on women" for years. But his hiring practices were better than those of his Democratic counterpart, Pelosi. In 2016, Ryan employed 24 men and 27 women. Collectively, men earned $2.52 million while women earned $2.48 million. On average, male employees made $104,846 while female employees made $91,846.

In America's big cities, it's even worse. In Bill de Blasio's New York City, 197 out of the 200 top-paid city workers are men. In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s controlled payroll has just 12 females out of the top 100 most highly compensated city employees.

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