Employment
Gender Wage Gap Widens Even as Low-wage Workers See Strong Gains Women Are Paid Roughly 22% Less Than Men on Average
"These pay gaps are even larger when examining average hourly wages for all workers instead of just the average for middle-wage workers because of the disproportionate share of highly paid workers who are white men, which pulls up their average. Using the average measure, Black and Hispanic women are paid 61.4% and 57.8%, respectively, of white men’s wages, an hourly wage gap of $15.11 for Black women and $16.40 for Hispanic women. Even in a regression framework—controlling for age, education, and geographic division—Black and Hispanic women are both paid about 67% of white men’s wages." more »
Federal Reserve Notes: Gender Gaps in the Labor Market Widen Every Summer Contributing to Gender Disparities in Promotions and Pay
"Gender gaps in labor market activity are pervasive, longstanding, and a regular subject of policy debates. Relative to men, women tend to work fewer hours per week, more conventional hours, and fewer years over the course of their lives. These differences in the intensity and timing of work contribute to gender disparities in promotions and pay. But despite decades of research on this topic, little attention has been paid to the timing of work throughout the year. To motivate our inquiry, Figure 1 plots the monthly labor force participation rates of prime-age US women and men using non–seasonally adjusted data, with June, July, and August shaded gray. Summer after summer, women's labor force participation drops sharply while men's participation does not." more »
IRS Warning, March 24, the Dirty Dozen: Scammers Using Fake Charities to Exploit Taxpayers; NY State Filing Addition*
"Help stop fraud and scams: As part of the Dirty Dozen awareness effort, the IRS Lead Development Center in the Office of Promoter Investigations promote improper and abusive tax schemes as well as tax return preparers who deliberately prepare improper returns ... Scams requesting donations are especially common over the phone, as well as by email and texts. Taxpayers should never feel pressured to give immediately, and they should look to recognized, established charities to help victims." more »
Jerome Powell's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report; Strong Wage Growth; Inflation, Labor Market, Unemployment, Job Gains, 2 Percent Inflation
"...There is little sign of disinflation thus far in the category of core services excluding housing, which accounts for more than half of core consumer expenditures. To restore price stability, we will need to see lower inflation in this sector, and there will very likely be some softening in labor market conditions. Although nominal wage gains have slowed somewhat in recent months, they remain above what is consistent with 2 percent inflation and current trends in productivity. Strong wage growth is good for workers but only if it is not eroded by inflation...Despite the slowdown in growth, the labor market remains extremely tight. The unemployment rate was 3.4 percent in January, its lowest level since 1969. Job gains remained very strong in January, while the supply of labor has continued to lag." more »