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Alexandra Killewald, Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan

US women narrowed the pay gap with men by having fewer kids

Women typically earn less than men per hour that they work. MoMo Productions/DigitalVision via Getty Images

Women in the U.S. typically earned 85% as much as men for every hour they spent working in 2024. However, working women are faring much better than their moms and grandmothers did 40 years ago. In the mid-1980s, women were making only 65% as much as men for every hour of paid work.

Women’s wages have improved relative to what men earn in part because of gains in their education and work experience, and because women have moved into higher-paying occupations. But progress toward pay equality has stalled.

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