Obama White House Still Paying Men More Than Women

President Obama’s male staffers still earn higher salaries than their female colleagues, despite all the focus of his administration on pay equity as a signature issue.

Back in April, the Obama administration’s Equal Pay Day backfired when the gender pay gap at the White House was first revealed.

Despite calls for more laws and regulations, pay discrimination on the basis of gender has been illegal in the U.S. since 1963.

Based on the latest data, “The average male White House employee currently earns about $88,600, while the average female White House employee earns about $78,400, according to White House data released Tuesday. That is a gap of 13 percent,” the Washington Post reports.

Added the Post, “One of the key reasons is that more men hold the higher-paying, senior jobs in the White House, and more women hold the lower-paying, junior jobs.”

The White House has insisted that men and women at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue who do the same or an equivalent job receive equal pay for equal work. This is the kind of response that ironically the Obama administration would likely be unwilling to accept if it was offered up by a private sector business caught in the government regulatory crosshairs, however.

According to the Washington Free Beacon citing several examples, “Democrats who often champion equal pay legislation have been known to be the worst offenders of gender pay discrimination.”

When questioned by reporters (see embedded videos below) about Obama administration gender gap in pay equity, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, Jay Carney’s recent replacement, conceded among other things that it is a difficult problem to address and that “I wouldn’t hold up the White House as the perfect example here.”

There has been a lot of discussion and debate about women supposedly earning 77 percent what men earn (perhaps 81 percent, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers), but that has been generally debunked when job descriptions, seniority, and other factors are taken into consideration. At the White House, the differential is supposedly about 88 percent.

Leaving aside momentarily the pay gap/pay equity issue, perhaps more disturbing for the taxpayer concerned about getting his or her money’s worth from federal employees is that 140 White House officials reportedly make over $100,000 in annual salary (53 of whom are women).

Do you think there is a significant gender wage gap in America, i.e., that similarly situated women don’t earn as much as men? As far as equal pay, is the Obama administration still stuck in a “do as I say, not as I do” scenario?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPhDg0NTUNk

[image via Shutterstock]