Women working full time in 2024 earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by men — the largest gender pay gap reported since 2016, The Wall Street Journal reported Oct. 24.
Here are seven takeaways for healthcare leaders:
1. As of April 2025, women working full time earned 83 cents on the dollar compared to men, according to the U.S. Department of Labor data.
2. Economists point to multiple causes, including high child care costs and limited availability, but say return-to-office mandates are likely the largest factor. These mandates have led some women to step down from their roles or shift to lower-paying jobs that offer more flexibility, according to the Journal.
3. Turnover following return-to-office policies increased by 12.7% among female employees — nearly three times the 4.4% rate for their male counterparts.
4. In 2025, labor force participation among women ages 25 to 54 stalled, while participation increased for men in the same age range. Among college-educated women with young children, labor force participation dropped 2.3 percentage points since early 2023. In contrast, it rose nearly 1 percentage point for women without degrees or children, according to accounting firm KPMG.
5. While the gender pay gap narrowed steadily over the past 40 years, it peaked at 84 cents on the dollar in 2022. It then declined in 2023 and remained flat in 2024.
6. From January to June 2025, the share of working mothers with children under age 5 in the labor force declined nearly 3 percentage points — reversing post-pandemic employment gains and reaching the lowest level in more than three years.
7. Women continue to be over-represented in healthcare than in many other industries, but their advancement has not significantly improved. Between 2020 and 2024, McKinsey’s “Women in the Workplace” report found that female representation remained flat across all job levels, from entry level to the C-suite. Additionally, promotion rates for women in healthcare did not improve in 2024 and attrition rates worsened.
