Catherwood LibraryILR School

A study released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that for the year 2000, women engaged in part-time work made fifteen cents more an hour than their male counterparts. This gap is largely due to the fact that many female part-timers are women who already have established careers and switch from full to part-time work in order to take care of children---as opposed to male part-timers who are more likely to be starting off in their careers and have less experience and earning power. Both the higher pay-rates for part-time female workers revealed by this study, and the fact that women make on average twenty-four cents less an hour than men, can be linked to the greater tendency among working mothers, as opposed to working fathers, to seek part-time employment while their children are growing up.