White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.Photo: SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty
Newsalary data released Thursdayshows that six months into office,Joe Biden’s administration has the narrowest gender pay gap in the White House since the numbers were first released in 1995.
The gap is even wider for women of color, and theCOVID-19 pandemichas onlyexacerbated the gapbetween women and men, according to recent examinations of its impact.
The gap in the Biden White House is also much narrower than it was under the previous administration, according to 19th News: The outlet’s analysis shows that women earned69 cents to men’s $1in 2020, under former PresidentDonald Trump, and 63 cents to men’s $1 in 2016, also under Trump.
The average salary in the Biden White House for women is $93,752 and $94,639 for men.
The data shows that women comprise roughly 60 percent of current appointees and make up 56 percent of the senior staff
The White House has been required to release the salary data of those who work in the office to Congress since 1995. According to astatement on Thursday, the report was also disclosed on its website to be “consistent with President Biden’s commitment to transparency.”
Since taking office in January, Biden has worked tostaff his administrationwith a mix of longtime advisers and credentialed experts — echoing a campaign strategy that sought a contrast with opponentDonald Trump— along with what Biden said was much needed diversity.
Biden’s running mate and now-vice president,Kamala Harris, is the first woman, first Black person and first person of Indian descent elected to the office in U.S. history.
Meanwhile, the White House communications and economics teams are largely comprised of women. (Some Trump aides took pains to note earlier this year that his White House, too, had a largely female communications team.)
Jen Psaki, The Biden White House press secretary, is one of seven women who fill the upper ranks of Biden’s communications team, along with Communications Director Kate Bedingfield who has worked with Biden for years and Pili Tobar, Karine Jean-Pierre, Symone Sanders, Ashley Etienne and Elizabeth Alex.
According to the data released Thursday, Psaki earns $180,000 per year in her role, making her one of the highest paid employees in the Biden administration. Molly Groom, policy adviser for immigration, earns $185,656.
As pay grades at the White House are on a scale, many of the president’s top aides all earn the same amount. For example, Psaki, Bedingfield, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice and Ron Klain, the president’s chief of staff, all earn annual salaries of $180,000.
Other historic women appointees in the administration includeJanet Yellen, who became the first woman to serve as secretary of the treasury when she was sworn into office in January, and Avril Haines, the first woman to be the director of national intelligence.
source: people.com
