SACRAMENTO, CA – Ahead of Equal Pay Day, the California Civil Rights Department (CRD) has released new pay data for 2023, revealing persistent gender and racial pay disparities across the state.
CRD stated last week that, despite California’s robust equal pay laws, the new statistics show that “women and communities of color remain overrepresented among the state’s lowest paid workers.”
According to the CRD’s new report, which covers approximately 7.9 million workers from private employers, women and communities of color remain disproportionately affected by low wages.
California First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom commented on the findings, stating, “While not representative of the entire workforce, this data snapshot tells an all-too-familiar story — women and people of color remain overrepresented in the lowest-paying jobs and underrepresented in leadership.”
In the report, Newsom further emphasized the need for more businesses to step up, citing the California Equal Pay Pledge and California Equal Pay Playbook as useful tools for companies to help close the wage gap.
“Equal pay is not only the right thing to do — driving innovation, strengthening workplace cultures, and boosting the economy — it’s the smart thing to do,” she said.
The 2023 pay data paints a picture of ongoing disparities. According to the CRD, “Senior managers or executives in the state were almost twice as likely to be men (64 percent) compared to women (36 percent).”
Similarly, workers in the highest pay range (earning $144,560 or more) were predominantly men, with 64 percent of those top earners being male, the report noted.
In terms of race and ethnicity, the data reported by the CRD revealed significant racial disparities in pay.
White workers were more likely to be in senior management positions than any other racial group, with 59 percent of executives being white, despite white workers representing only 31 percent of the overall workforce.
Meanwhile, the date notes only 1 in 25 Latino workers and about 1 in 10 Black and Native American workers were in the highest pay range.
Additionally, “Among workers of the same race, Black (41 percent), Latino (41 percent), and Native American (39 percent) workers were more likely to be in the lowest pay range” compared to white (25 percent) and Asian workers (18 percent), reported CRD.
Business, Consumer Services and Housing Secretary Tomiquia Moss acknowledged that, while California continues to have one of the lowest gender pay gaps in the nation, there is still much work to be done, stating, “These numbers show where employers can focus efforts to bridge those gaps to provide opportunity and success for all Californians, and to make the phrase equal pay for equal work a reality.”
CRD Director Kevin Kish maintained the importance of closing the pay gap, stating, “When people get paid fairly, it translates directly into the ability of working families to make ends meet and more money going to their communities. We all benefit.”
Kish urged employers to take a hard look at the 2023 data, emphasizing their responsibility to protect against discrimination in pay.
Despite these disparities, California has made strides in ensuring employers comply with equal pay laws, said CRD.
The passage of Senate Bill 973 in 2020 and the subsequent expansion of pay data reporting requirements under Senate Bill 1162 have forced “employers to conduct self-assessments of pay disparities, promote voluntary compliance with equal pay and anti-discrimination laws,” the CRD report noted.
As a result, the California Civil Rights Department has secured significant settlements with companies found violating these laws.
In 2023 alone, the department reached a $15 million settlement with Snapchat over employment discrimination and equal pay violations, and obtained a $54 million settlement with Activision Blizzard over sex-based discrimination.
