Women who work for Congress make on average $2,200 less annually than male staffers, with the biggest gender pay disparity found this year among Senate Republicans, new salary data reveal.
Women working in the Washington, D.C., and local offices for House and Senate members make on average $57,308 compared to $59,525 for men, according to salary data for 2021 provided by LegiStorm, a nonpartisan company that monitors and researches congressional data.
The overall wage gap of 96% for women is slightly worse than last year and a retreat from the 2016 benchmark of 98% when the Capitol Hill wage disparity was nearly closed. The salary differences persist despite a record number of women elected to the House and Senate in 2020 and females now accounting for about 27% of the 535 members of both chambers of Congress.
Senate Republicans, who closed the pay gap considerably in 2020 and fared better than Senate Democrats a year ago, have started off 2021 with the biggest salary disparities between men and women, new data reviewed by Fox News show.
The average female Senate GOP staffer made $62,472 for the most recent pay period that covered October 2020 to March 2021, records show. That’s about $4,300 less than the average male Senate GOP staffer who made $66,766. The nearly 94% pay gap is the largest on the Hill by party and chamber.
The five senators, regardless of party, with the largest pay gaps between the average male and average female salaries are Republican Sens. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama (23 female staffers making on average 67% of the average wage of his 15 male employees); Bill Hagerty of Tennessee (14 females making 68% of the 26 males); Dan Sullivan of Alaska (26 females making 70% of the 15 males); Jerry Moran of Kansas (17 females making 71% of the average salary for the 21 males); and Jim Risch of Idaho (22 females making 72% of the average wage of the 16 male employees), according to the data. – READ MORE
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