Betsey Stevenson lent her expertise in labor markets to a recent U.S. News & World Report article on the gender pay gap, which despite gains in educational attainment for women, isn’t expected to close globally for another 118 years, according to a report from the World Economic Forum.
In “Why Your Male Peers Outearn You – And What to Do About It,” writer Susannah Snider relies on Stevenson and several other experts to provide an overview of gender wage disparities in the U.S. and to offer suggestions for how women can minimize the impact of the pay gap on their own earnings.
"When it comes to the gender pay gap, the statistics are discouraging," writes Snider. "As of 2014, a woman working full time, year-round earned a median 79 percent of what a man working the same hours made, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau."
Betsey Stevenson is an associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. She recently completed a two-year term as an appointed member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers and served as the chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor from 2010 to 2011. Stevenson’s research explores women's labor market experiences, the economic forces shaping the modern family, and the potential value of subjective well-being data for public policy.