It’s always good to talk numbers. Just on the heels of #equalpayday ABODO, who previously released information on the top cities for a PR job, analyzed U.S. Census data to uncover the cities and the fastest-growing industries with the largest and smallest gaps in pay between men and women. The report shows that, nationally, the wage gap currently sits at just over 21%.
The median income for women is $39,315, which is 78.9% of the national median income for men of $49,828. Career in public relations are well above this national average, the 2016 PR Week Survey found that the median PR salary rose to $92,125 last year.
Some additional key findings from ABODO, specific to the PR, Media and Entertainment industries include:
We asked ABDO to dive in a bit deeper into the epicenter’s for fashion and lifestyle PR – New York and Los Angeles, and Sr. Communications Manager Sam Radbil let us know that “In Los Angeles specifically, we found that the wage gap — women earning 89.5% of what men earn — ranked #2 among the best cities for equal pay and far better than the national average. Within PR and media jobs in Los Angeles, women earn 83.7% of what men earn in the same city and industry, which ranks #14 in the entire U.S.” In terms of New York, “the data shows that the wage gap — women earning 85.5% of what men earn — ranked #9 among the best cities for equal pay. This is also far better than the national average. Within PR and media workers in New York, women earn 89.7% of what men earn. This ranks #4 in the country.”
While it is useful to know that our industry has above-average, gender-based wage gaps of any kind are ridiculous. Armed with insight from this report we can all have a better sense of the actual silent disparity within our field, and powerful data to help women appropriately negotiate equal pay.
