SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - Dec 6, 2016) - Today, PayScale, Inc., the leader in cloud compensation data and software for businesses and individuals, released the 2016 Inside the Gender Pay Gap report. The report shows gender inequity can have negative consequences on employee retention rates, as awareness of fair pay and practices becomes more mainstream. More than half of employees (regardless of gender) felt gender inequity was an issue in their workplace. The report found that not just women, but also men, who believed their employer was not addressing gender inequity reported being less satisfied at work and more likely to be seeking a new job.

"Equitable pay and promotion practices are not just good for employees, they can also have a serious impact on talent retention for both genders," said Lydia Frank, Vice President of Content Strategy at PayScale. "This research indicates that employees want to work for an organization that shares their same values. However, employers must also communicate their commitment to fairness to their workers. Taking appropriate action to ensure gender equity around pay, hiring practices, and promotion opportunities is crucial, but if employees don't know you're taking action, it can be as harmful as taking no action at all."

The report also shows that as workers age, men are significantly more likely to enter management roles than women. Men in the late stages of their career are 41 percent more likely to be in management roles than late-career women and nearly twice as likely to hold an executive position. In addition, the controlled gender pay gap for women and men holding the same executive position is three times larger than it is for typical workers (i.e. 6.4 percent compared to 1.9 percent). The research also found that nearly 20 percent of all women and 36 percent of those with MBA degrees believe their gender was a factor in missing a raise or promotion.

Here are some other findings from the 2016 Inside the Gender Pay Gap report:

• Women in Utah (30 percent), Washington DC (27 percent) and Alaska (25 percent) reported the highest rates for their gender factoring into a missed raise or promotion.
• The wage gap is slightly smaller than last year, as the controlled wage gap is 2.4 percent in 2016, compared to 2.7 percent in 2015. (See explanation of controlled and uncontrolled data below).
• The pay gap varies by industry. The largest uncontrolled pay gap is in Finance and Insurance at 29.1% (indicating that women are typically in lower paying roles within this industry); the largest controlled pay gap is in the Mining, Oil and Gas Extraction in industry at 7.4 percent.
• The controlled pay gap varies by state and is largest in Louisiana (7.4 percent), followed by Alabama (7.1 percent) and West Virginia (6.5 percent).

Methodology:
Inside the Gender Pay Gap presents both raw (or uncontrolled) and controlled gender pay gaps. Raw data represents the difference between the median pay for men and women across all jobs and doesn't control for any factors that impact compensation. By contrast, controlled data uses the PayScale compensation model to control for numerous compensable factors that determine pay. The controlled gender pay gap is the difference between the median percentage for men and women and can be interpreted as the difference in what a typical man and woman earn for a similar or comparable job.

To view the entire 2016 Inside the Gender Pay Gap Report, please visit: http://www.payscale.com/data-packages/gender-pay-gap.

About PayScale:
PayScale powers compensation solutions in the cloud to provide immediate visibility into the right pay for any position. Creator of the world's largest database of rich salary profiles, PayScale offers modern compensation software and real-time, data driven insights for employees and employers alike. More than 5,000 customers, from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, use PayScale Benchmark™, PayScale Insight™ and MarketPay. These companies include Dish Network, Getty Images, Skullcandy, Bloomberg BNA and Time Warner. For more information, please visit: www.payscale.com or follow PayScale on Twitter: http://twitter.com/payscale