Narrowing but Persisting Gender Pay Gap among Employees of the US Department of Health and Human Services during 2010-2018

Abstract Background. The gender pay gap in the United States (US) has narrowed over the last several decades, with the female/male earnings ratio in the US increased from about 60% before the 1980s to about 79% by 2014. However, the gender pay gap among the healthcare workforce persists. The objective of this study is to estimate the gender pay gap in the US federal health workforce during 2010-2018. Methods. We used an administrative dataset including annual pay rates and job characteristics of employees of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Employees’ gender was classified based on first names. Regression analyses were used to estimate the gender pay gap using the predicted gender. Results. Women employees of the DHHS earn about 13% less than men in 2010, and 9.2% less in 2018. Occupation, pay plan, and location explain more than half of the gender pay gap. Controlling job grade further reduces the gap. The unexplained portion of the gender pay gap in 2018 may fall between 1.0% and 3.5%. Women have a small advantage in terms of pay increase over the study period.Conclusions. While the gender pay gap has narrowed within the last two decades, the pay gap between men and women in the federal health workforce persists and warrants continuing attention and research. Continued efforts should be implemented to reduce the gender pay gap among the health workforce.