[Contains discussion of HB 146.]   4:32:54 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS announced that the final order of business would be a presentation on Women in the Workforce & the Gender Pay Gap. 4:33:19 PM KARINNE WIEBOLD, Economist, Research and Analysis, Administrative Services Division, Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD), presented a PowerPoint titled "Women & the Pandemic" [hard copy included in the committee packet]. She began her presentation with slide 2, which displayed graphs showing the percentages of men and women in the workforce, as well as corresponding average annual wages, over the past 30 years. She pointed out that both average annual wages and the workforce composition have been slowly converging, with women now comprising 48 percent of the workforce; however, she said, wages for women are still lagging behind those for men. She said that the most significant change in the gender pay gap has occurred in the last couple of years; for the past 20 years, she said, average wages for women have been 68 percent of those for men, but it's recently risen to 72 percent. MS. WIEBOLD presented slide 2, "Men Earn More in All Age Groups," which displayed a graph showing the wage gap widening with age. Teenage workers have a minimal wage gap, she said, and as the compounding employment history of men and women continues, the wage gap increases. She pointed out that averages wages peak when women are in their forties, while men's average wages continue to increase into their fifties before showing a slight decline into their sixties. The largest wage gap was among those between the ages of 50 and 59. 4:38:32 PM MS. WIEBOLD moved to slide 4, "Men earn more at all education levels," which displayed a graph showing average men's and women's wages at various education levels. She pointed out that all wages increase with more education, but that the wage gap doesn't necessarily decrease; jobs that require only a high school education demonstrate a 61 percent earnings ratio, but positions that require a doctoral degree demonstrate a 70 percent earnings ratio. She said that in Alaska, women comprise a larger percentage of positions that require higher education. She then presented slide 5, "What does the national data tell us about the pandemic, and what was happening before?", and said that Alaska is not unique in the gender wage gap. MS. WIEBOLD presented slide 6, "National Labor Force Participation Rates," and noted that individuals are considered part of the labor force if they are either working or looking for work. She said that men's labor force participation has been on a gradual decline over the past 20 years, with the past 10 years showing a more significant decline. Conversely, she said, labor force participation among women has been increasing. In 2020, she said, women's labor force participation rate dropped from 58 to 54.5 percent, while the rate for men went from 69 to 66 percent. Nationwide, she said, between January 2020 to January 2021, 1.8 million men left the labor force, compared to 2.5 million women; the setback from the pandemic has pushed women's labor force participation rate to that which was last seen in 1987. 4:43:19 PM MS. WIEBOLD presented slide 7, "Unemployment Rates," and explained that women were hit harder by the immediate effects of the pandemic and have experienced a slower recovery. She pointed out that the unemployment rate for women was highest in April 2020 at 16.1 percent, while the rate for men at the same time was 13.6 percent. She then presented slide 8, "Where do Alaskan women work?", which displayed a pie chart showing that more than half of women work in state and local government, healthcare, and private education. Trade, transportation, and utilities, the sector which includes retail sales, was the third largest segment. MS. WIEBOLD presented slide 9, "Alaska lost 27,200 jobs in 2020," which displayed a pie chart showing job loss by industry. The leisure and hospitality sector lost almost 10,000 jobs; trade, transportation, and utilities, including retail sales, lost 6,500 jobs. She noted that the leisure and hospitality sector employs approximately even proportions of men and women; however, the occupations within that sector that employ more women than men, such as waitstaff and housekeeping, were hit disproportionately hard by the pandemic. Government job losses, she said, tended to be in the areas of local government and schools, areas which tend to disproportionately employ women. 4:49:57 PM MS. WIEBOLD presented slide 10, "Unemployment Insurance Claims- something we can see now," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: multiply Historically, more men than women file for unemployment (60/40) multiply Claims are record high for both multiply Since the pandemic, more men than women have received UI. multiply BUT, women, as a percent of claimants, has grown more than men 4:54:06 PM LAURIE WOLF, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Foraker Group, presented a PowerPoint titled "The Gender Pay Gap in Alaska" [hard copy included in the committee packet]. She shared that approximately 17 percent of Alaskans work for a nonprofit organization, and that approximately 65 percent of the employees are women, compared to the 48 percent workforce participation rate for women in Alaska. She said that, despite passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, which mandated equal pay for equal work, the gender pay gap persists in Alaska and nationwide. She presented slide 2, "What's in a day?", and pointed out that March 24 is Equal Pay Day in the United States, which represents how far into the new year women would have to work in order to make the same salary of their male counterparts in the previous year. She said that the date shifts when factoring in issues such as race or motherhood; Equal Pay Day is March 9 for Asian and Pacific Islander women; August 3 for Black women; September 8 for Native American women; and October 21 for Latina women. She said that the impact of COVID-19 will hit working mothers especially hard, as the lack of child care or school closures force more women than men out of the workforce. 4:58:09 PM MS. WOLF presented slide 3, "Too Long to Wait," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: 257 YEARS  At the current rate of change, the gender pay gap in Alaska won't disappear until the year 2277. MS. WOLF presented slide 4, "The Gender Pay Gap in Alaska," which showed that Alaskan women earn 72 cents for each dollar men earn; in the nonprofit sector, women earn 79 cents. She then presented slide 5, "The Gender Wage Gap is Real," which displayed a graphic showing the average wages for men and women in the nonprofit sector compared to for-profit wages. She then presented slide 5, "Loss of Pay Over a Lifetime," stating that the average women loses over $530,000 over her lifetime because of the gender wage gap; the average college-educated woman loses over $800,000 over a lifetime. MS. WOLF presented slide 7, "Traditionally-Female Occupations Pay Less," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: The gender pay gap is smaller within traditionally- female occupations, but traditionally-male occupations pay higher wages. Only 6% of Alaska's female workers are employed in traditionally-male occupations. For nonprofits, the figure is only 2%. MS. WOLF presented slide 8, "Why Legislation Matters," and she stated that fair and equitable pay is the law in the U.S. Slide 8 read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Steps you can take: Publish pay ranges in job announcements. Don't ask for an applicant's pay history. Share total compensation not just the wage so all employees understand the full value of benefits and salary. MS. WOLF said that HB 146, introduced during the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee meeting on April 23, would take "monumental" steps in the right direction by establishing provisions to prohibit certain workplace policies that could lead to pay inequity, such as prohibiting employers from using prior wages to determine future compensation, codifying the right of employees to inquire about their co-workers' compensation, and requiring employers to disclose the range of salaries on job listings. 5:04:09 PM HILARY MORGAN, President and Chief Executive Officer, Resourceful Results, LLC, offered a PowerPoint presentation titled "EconEquity; Gender Pay Gap in Alaska" [hard copy included in the committee packet]. She presented slide 2, "EconEquity," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: ? 1963. Equal Pay Act passes ? Women earned 59 cents on the dollar nationally. ? 2014. 51 years later ? Women earned 79 cents on the dollar nationally MS. MORGAN presented slide 3, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: 2021. Nationally ? women earn 82 cents on the dollar. ? 2019. Alaska Economic Trends ? Alaska Women earned 72 cents on the dollar. MS. MORGAN presented slide 4, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: The pay disparity is more pronounced for women who are Black, Indigenous or people of color; ranging nationally from 55 cents for Latinx women to 63 cents for Black women in 2021. In Alaska, these figures are even lower. MS. MORGAN noted that her data is somewhat outdated, and she urged committee members to concentrate on the message. She presented slide 6, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: The pay gap has closed only 5? between 1990 and 2014. Without action, Alaskan women won't have equal pay until 2142. MS. MORGAN presented slide 7, "Equal Pay Adds Up." She pointed out that women are increasingly the primary earner, and are the sole earner in 40 percent of U.S. households. She said that it's estimated that closing the gender wage gap would decrease the poverty rate for working women and their families by 50 percent; as women are increasingly the primary or sole earner in their families, it's critical that women are paid equal to men. 5:08:10 PM MS. MORGAN presented slide 8, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: "We need to understand why there is a gap." No. Act now and figure out why along the way. "Well, you know men are stronger." In 2017, Alaska female lawyers earned 77 cents for every dollar their male counterpart earned. MS. MORGAN presented slide 9, "The wage gap persists regardless of industry," and slide 10, "Ratio of Women's to Men's Earnings by Industry, Alaska 2010," which displayed a graph of industries showing the array of Alaskan industries and their gender wage gaps. She then presented slide 11, "The wage gap is present within occupations," and slide 12, "Earnings gap smaller in occupations dominated by women," which displayed a bar graph showing female-dominated occupations. She pointed out that 89 percent of registered nurses are women, yet they earn only 95 percent of what male registered nurses earn. MS. MORGAN presented slide 13, "The wage gap exists regardless of education level," and slide 14, which displayed a graphic showing that Alaskan women with a bachelor's degree are paid 63 percent of what men with the same education level are paid. She stated that women with graduate or professional degrees are also paid less than men with a bachelor's degree, and women with a bachelor's degree are paid less than men with even lower education levels. She said, "Unfortunately, in Alaska, women do not see the same return to their education that men see." MS. MORGAN presented slide 15, "Alaskan businesses and community are ready for change," which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: Between May 2014 and January 2018, EconEquity asked 132 businesses, organizations, politicians and individuals to endorse closing the gender pay gap in Alaska by 2025. Only 5 declined. MS. MORGAN presented slide 16, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: ? EconEquity asked for demonstrated support through a signed endorsement. ? The Endorsement asked only for 3 things of the signer: ? an acknowledgement that the pay gap existed, ? that they stand with us as we eliminated the gap, ? that is be signed by the CEO or Chairperson of the Board. MS. MORGAN presented slides 17-20, which listed dozens of businesses and individuals who endorse gender pay equity. She said that the list of endorsers are posted on the EconEquity website, and the list of companies who decline to sign the endorsement are listed once a year in the program of the EconEquity Summit. She said that the simple act of asking a company to endorse gender pay equity resulted in the company becoming aware of their own gender pay equity status. 5:14:19 MS. MORGAN presented slide 21, "Women make less in every part of Alaska," which displayed a map of Alaska's boroughs and showed each borough's gender pay gap using data from 2019. She then presented slide 22, which read as follows [original punctuation provided]: ? The persistent wage gap between working men and women is a barrier to women's success and to the success of Alaska. ? When women are underpaid and undervalued, it is more challenging for them to pay off student debt, provide for their families, contribute to their communities, and save for retirement. ? Women's options become limited and so does their ability to strengthen our businesses and our state. 5:15:31 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS commented that two pieces of proposed legislation, focusing on addressing child care issues and wage disclosures, have been reported from the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee. 5:16:37 PM REPRESENTATIVE SCHRAGE asked about the lack of maternity policies and the effect on the gender pay gap. 5:17:05 PM MS. MORGAN shared that one of the problems with not having equal opportunities for maternity and paternity leave is that women who take maternity leave often subsequently lose seniority in the workplace. She said that this is a reason why single mothers in Alaska earn less than single fathers, even when controlling for the number of children. She said that by offering paternity leave as well as maternity leave, companies may begin to level the playing field. MS. WOLF added that as of 2018, a mother's wage decreases approximately 4 percent per child, while a father's wage increases approximately 8 percent. She said that, as of three years after childbirth, only 28 percent of mothers work full time or are self-employed, compared to 90 percent of fathers. She encouraged committee members to consider the concept of "family leave" as opposed to "maternal or paternal leave," due to the likelihood of women being in the position of caring for parents as well as children. REPRESENTATIVE SCHRAGE noted the 8 percent increase of wages for fathers, and he asked why a father's wage would increase after having children. MS. WOLF replied that there is research showing that men are, in general, better advocates for pay increases and are encouraged to negotiate for better pay. She discussed bias around the idea that men, as opposed to women, need to provide for their families. 5:20:34 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS added, "The literature does indicate that employers see the necessity of fathers providing for their children, and are actually very willing to give them wage increases, but don't have that same inclination with women." 5:20:51 PM REPRESENTATIVE SNYDER shared her agreement with the idea of "family leave" and pointed out that her maternity leave was unpaid and limited to six weeks. 5:22:12 PM REPRESENTATIVE MCCARTY shared that his son-in-law is a stay-at- home father. He asked for copies of the research. MS. WOLF replied that the research is published on The Foraker Group website and that there are links to additional studies. 5:23:27 PM CO-CHAIR FIELDS commented on the value of paid family leave. 5:23:53 PM CO-CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ mentioned that committee members have copies of studies of the gender pay gap by education and occupation. She said, "What we know now is that the gender pay gap starts from the first job ... and then it builds on itself over the course of a career." She said that it's always been supposed that more education would solve the problem, but that studies show that women need doctorate degrees in order to earn as much as a man with a bachelor's degree. She commented that fields dominated by women earn less than those dominated by men, and that even in fields dominated by women, men earn more and advance more quickly. She said women were overrepresented in fields that were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that when there is an issue with child care, the rational decision is that the parent who earns less money is the parent who will stay home with the kids. She said that even women who weren't in occupations impacted by the pandemic tended to leave the workplace to care for their children. She pointed out that the policy changes recommended by Ms. Wolf align with the legislation proposed in HB 146, sponsored by Representative Snyder. 5:29:02 PM ADJOURNMENT  There being no further business before the committee, the House Labor and Commerce Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 5:29 p.m.