ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Equal pay day marks roughly how long a woman needs to work into the next year to make what a male would the previous year.
For the current gender pay gap, today is that day.
"This is an issue of basic fairness and this is an issue of economic strength," said Maryland Lt. Governor Aruna Miller.
86 cents on the dollar is how much a woman makes compared to a man in Maryland.
The numbers get worse if you compare what minority women make compared to white men, a major portion of the department's report.
- Asian women make 86 cents on the dollar.
- White women make 79 cents on the dollar.
- Black women make 67 cents on the dollar.
- Native American women make 56 cents.
- Hispanic women feel it the worst at 50 cents for every dollar a white man makes.
"Because Maryland wages are higher than a lot of parts of the country, that percentage gap really adds up over a lifetime with Latinas earning 1.8 million dollars less over a career," said Secretary of Labor Portia Wu.
Senator Ariana Kelly is sponsoring legislation she believes will help.
"Senate Bill 525 is another strategy that's going to help it's going to require that you post the salary when you post the job," said Kelly, a Democrat from Montgomery County.
The Department of Labor was unable to answer questions on how this data shapes up for the state's second largest employer, the state itself which employed nearly 100,000 people as of 2021.
Wu says the state has some practices that would make pay gaps less likely to occur.
"We already post those pay ranges when we post jobs in the state. Our information about what people make in these roles is highly transparent. You can look it up online and find it. That's a huge important thing is wage transparency," said Wu.
Senator Kelly's bill is expected to pass out of the Senate tomorrow.
