pay gapn.
/ˈpeɪ ɡap/, U.S. /ˈpeɪ ˌɡæp/ 1. A difference in pay between two sectors of a population.Pay gaps can be measured in various ways. The term is typically used in contexts where one group of people earns more on average than another and this is considered undesirable or unfair.
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1948 Bath (Maine) Independent 25 Mar. 6/4 A definite tendency to lessen the pay gap between men and women teachers.
1992 Economist 3 Oct. 31/2 The pay gap between the lowest and average earners is now the widest since records began in 1886, according to the Low Pay Unit. The gap will increase if Wages Councils are abolished, it said.
2020 Dorset Echo (Nexis) 16 Oct. NHS workers are to stage a protest in Dorchester to draw attention to their claims for pay justice... ‘In the last 10 years the pay gap between MPs and health workers has really grown.’
2. gender pay gap n. (chiefly with the) a difference in pay between men and women.A gender pay gap can be measured in various ways. The term is typically used in contexts where men earn more on average than women and this is considered undesirable or unfair.
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1984 Colorado Springs Gaz. Tel. 8 Apr. f6/1 To feminists the quickest way to bridge the gender pay gap is simply to raise the pay of ‘pink-collar’ jobs.
2017 Australian (Nexis) 5 Dec. (Commentary section) 12 In terms of the overall gender pay gap, what the Harvard research indicates is the importance of the wage premium attached to long and unpredictable hours of work.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2021; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1948