The Wage Gap Really Widens When Women Hit This Age

It’s no secret that women often make less money than men, but a new study discovered there’s a certain age when that problem escalates.

According to a gender equity report from Visier, a workforce analytics firm, the gender wage gap in America widens around age 32. The study found this is the time when women are earning 90% of men’s wages. That number decreases to 82% in just eight short years — by age 40.

“Every CEO should be looking at gender equity,” John Schwarz, Visier founder and CEO, said in a press release. “Countless studies have shown the equal economic contribution women make in the workforce, yet companies have struggled to achieve the goal of equity in compensation.”

According to Visier’s study, which used information from its database of 165,000 U.S. employees from 31 companies, the age of 32 is a time when men typically start being promoted to managerial positions and earning an average wage two times the wage of non-managers. This is also when many women leave the workforce, take time off for maternity leave or even face discrimination in promotion decisions.

The study points out that paying women and men equally for the same position is integral to closing the gender wage gap. But so is fixing what the study calls “the manager divide” by having a stronger representation of women in managerial roles, which could reduce the wage gap to 10% across all age groups, the report said.

How Income Affects Your Credit

No matter how much you earn or your role, your paycheck won’t directly affect your credit scores. But having more money coming in can make it easier to pay credit card debt or other bills you may have. This can help you maintain a strong payment history, which is a major factor in establishing your credit scores. (To find out how your spending and payment habits are affecting your credit, you can see two of your free credit scores, updated every 14 days, on Credit.com.)

If you aren’t happy with what you see, there are ways you can work on improving your credit score. This can include paying down debt and disputing any errors you find on your credit reports.

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