New Report Shows Women Earning Less Than Men Across Michigan Workforce
By Michigan Capitol Staff
A new state report released this week shows Michigan's gender pay gap has widened slightly over the past year, as men's wages grew faster than women's. The findings from the "Women in the Michigan Workforce" report, published by the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics in partnership with the state's Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, show that women who work full-time earned 79 cents for every dollar men earned in 2024.
When accounting for all employees, including those working part-time, the gap was even more pronounced: women made 71 cents for every dollar men made. This represents a slight deterioration from 2023, when the difference for full-time employees was 82 cents per dollar.
Structural Barriers Persist Despite Progress
The report found that women have made considerable ground in industries where they were previously underrepresented. Since 1980, women went from making up fewer than half to more than half of workers in business operations, finance, and legal professions.
However, areas where women are overrepresented tend to be lower-paying sectors. Stephanie Beckhorn, who directs the Office of Employment and Training for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, noted that numbers demonstrate the importance of getting more women into professional trades.
"There is still persistent underrepresentation of women in trades-related fields. Women make up less than a quarter of employment in Construction and Transportation and material moving. These are professions whose wages are significantly higher than the state's median wage," Beckhorn said in a written statement.
Childcare Costs Remain Major Barrier
One of the biggest obstacles to closing the gender pay gap, Beckhorn pointed to, is the cost of childcare. She noted that state programs are trying to address this through partnerships for healthcare worker training and efforts to make childcare more affordable.
"We know one of the biggest barriers for working parents is the cost of childcare, resulting in some parents leaving the workforce. That is why we advocate for barrier removal support to help women enter and keep employment," Beckhorn said.
Legislative Response Pending
The report has drawn attention from advocates who say Michigan needs to take meaningful steps to close the gender gap. Sarah Javaid, a senior research analyst with the National Women's Law Center, said reasons for the difference stretch beyond what's happening between employers and their employees.
"The bigger picture is that women are being impacted by caregiving duties, they're impacted by state policies—unpaid leave, paid sick time. They're impacted by what education and training they can receive, and they're also impacted even way earlier than they enter the workforce," Javaid said.
Javaid noted that Michigan's policies to support access to reproductive health care have gone a long way to close that gap. She pointed to New York, Vermont, and Maryland as examples of states with among the narrowest gender pay gaps in the country.
Salary History Ban Bill Advances
One concrete step to address the problem is a bill that would stop employers from asking applicants about their past wage history. Such bans prevent discrimination from following women from job to job when current salaries are based on past salaries. The practice is particularly harmful for women of color who tend to experience far more discrimination at the intersection of sexism and race.
In the Michigan Senate, a salary history ban is awaiting a floor vote. A similar bill in the state House of Representatives has been stalled in committee for around a year.
The legislation would prohibit employers from seeking information on potential employees' past wages, fringe benefits, credit scores, or credit history. This has drawn opposition from small business groups who argue it limits their ability to assess potential employees.
NFIB, the National Federation of Independent Business, has testified against similar proposals, noting that the legislation would limit a small business owner's ability to assess potential employees. Despite this opposition, the Senate Labor Committee approved the bill on March 12, 2026, and it is expected to pass the Senate but is not expected to pass the House.
Broader Context of Workforce Gender Gap
Research has shown that Black and Hispanic women trail far behind their white counterparts when it comes to pay. Javaid recommended looking at education access and ways to stop discrimination as ways to close the distance.
The Michigan report didn't mention racial and ethnic breakdowns, but advocates are calling for more granular data to understand the full scope of the problem. States with the narrowest pay gaps tend to have comprehensive policies supporting working families, including paid family leave, paid sick time, and accessible childcare.
What's Next
As Michigan grapples with these persistent disparities, lawmakers and advocates will be watching the progress of the salary history ban legislation. If it advances to a floor vote in the Senate, it could become law before the end of the legislative session, providing another tool to help close the gender pay gap in Michigan.
The state continues to invest in workforce development programs aimed at helping women enter higher-paying industries and gain access to careers traditionally dominated by men. But advocates say more aggressive policy action is needed to address the structural barriers that keep women from earning what they're worth in the Michigan economy.