Women overrepresented in lowest-paid frontline retail jobs

A new study from Catalyst found that women hold a disproportionate number of the lowest-paying frontline jobs “with limited access to benefits or career progression” in the US, UK, and Canada.

The entire retail workforce is nearly balanced, with women comprising 52%, per the Institute for Women’s Policy Research data. But women account for 69% of retail employees who are paid an hourly wage of less than $20 in the US and Canada (and less than £20 in the UK), according to the report.

When it comes to salaried frontline workers, women account for 58% of those who earn less than $40,000/£40,000 a year.

In hospitality, where women outnumber men in the US (56%), Canada (52%), and the UK (53%), women also more dramatically overrepresent in lower paying jobs. In the sector, women accounted for 72% of those making below $20/£20; for salaried employees, women accounted for 67.5% of those making below $40,000/£40,000 a year.

The nonprofit Catalyst has researched and advocated for women’s advancement and inclusion since the 1960s, and its board includes the CEOs of JPMorgan Chase (Jamie Dimon), Steelcase (Sara Armbruster), and Procter & Gamble (Jon R. Moeller.)

Among the 8,990 frontline employees and managers it surveyed across seven sectors, 45% were from the US, 33% from the United Kingdom, and 23% from Canada.

The report recommends that companies convert some hourly jobs to salaried positions, be more transparent about promotion criteria, and “track progression by gender to identify and address bottlenecks.”

It also suggests that the progress of gender pay equity should be an element of executives’ performance reviews and bonuses, and that such progress should be publicly reported.

“What we find is that in all industries, even the female-dominated ones, women are not advancing to higher pay in the proportionate numbers, indicating structural barriers that must be dismantled industry by industry,” the report stated.