Senator Rockefeller's Statement On Equal Pay Day

Statement

Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV issued the following statement commending Equal Pay Day, which symbolizes how far into the year a woman must work on average to earn as much as a man earned the previous year.

"Women work just as hard as men and deserve equal compensation, period. Sadly, we still have a long way to go to see true wage equality," said Senator Rockefeller. "Women continue to earn less than men across the board, sometimes for the exact same work and qualifications. Equal Pay Day draws attention to this fact in hopes that as more women enter and advance in the workplace, they are doing so with comparable wages. The time for equality was yesterday."

Equal Pay Day was originated by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) in 1996 as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men's and women's wages. On a national level, women are paid only 78 cents for every dollar a man is paid, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. According to information released by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), in West Virginia women earn 65%of every dollar men earn.

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