[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 191 (Thursday, December 8, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S7075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 50--RECOGNIZING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF EQUAL 
PAY AND THE DISPARITY IN WAGES PAID TO MEN AS COMPARED TO WAGES PAID TO 
                              LATINA WOMEN

  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Padilla, 
Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Booker, Mr. Brown, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Durbin, Mrs. 
Feinstein, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Hickenlooper, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Kelly, Ms. 
Klobuchar, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Rosen, Mr. 
Sanders, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Warren, and Mr. Bennet) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions:

                            S. Con. Res. 50

       Whereas December 8, 2022, is Latina Equal Pay Day, the 
     observance of which marks the fact that Latina women must 
     work nearly an additional 11 months, on average, to be paid 
     what White, non-Hispanic men were paid in 2021;
       Whereas Latina women now make up the second largest group 
     of women workers in the United States, after White women;
       Whereas there are 12,800,000 Hispanic women in the labor 
     force in the United States, representing slightly more than 
     17 percent of all women in that labor force today;
       Whereas the labor force participation rate of Latina women 
     in 2021 was higher than that of their White counterparts, 
     which reflects that a growing share of Latina women are 
     either working or actively looking for work;
       Whereas section 6(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 
     1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(d)) (referred to in this preamble as 
     ``section 6(d)'') prohibits discrimination in compensation 
     for equal work on the basis of sex;
       Whereas title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
     U.S.C. 2000e et seq.) prohibits discrimination in 
     compensation because of race, color, religion, national 
     origin, or sex;
       Whereas, despite section 6(d), which was first enacted as 
     part of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (Public Law 88-38; 77 Stat. 
     56) more than 5 decades ago and requires that men and women 
     in the same workplace be given equal pay for equal work, data 
     from the Bureau of the Census shows that Latina women working 
     full-time, year-round are typically paid 57 cents for each 
     dollar paid to White, non-Hispanic men, while the average 
     wage differential for Latina women working full-time, part-
     time, and part-year is 54 cents for each dollar paid to 
     White, non-Hispanic men;
       Whereas a study conducted in 2019 found that, on average, a 
     Latina woman loses more than $1,000,000 dollars in potential 
     earnings over her lifetime to the wage gap;
       Whereas the American Community Survey 2016-2020 reported 
     that--
       (1) the median annual pay for a Latina woman in the United 
     States working full-time, year-round was $33,000; and
       (2) the median annual pay for all Latina women with 
     reported earnings working full-time, part-time, or part-year 
     was $25,312, placing a working mother with 2 children near 
     poverty;
       Whereas job loss during the COVID-19 pandemic distorted 
     measurements of average wages, as women with lower earnings 
     in sectors such as leisure, hospitality, and retail were more 
     likely to experience job loss and leave the labor force;
       Whereas the unemployment rate of Latina women peaked at 
     20.1 percent in April 2020, and the civilian labor force 
     participation rate of Latina women fell from a high of 59.2 
     percent in October 2019 to 57 percent in September 2020;
       Whereas lost wages mean that Latina women have less money 
     to support themselves and their families, save and invest for 
     the future, and spend on goods and services;
       Whereas 51 percent of Latina women are unable to earn sick 
     days through their jobs;
       Whereas more than \1/2\ of low wage earners who are Latina 
     women report that they spent most or all of their savings 
     during the COVID-19 pandemic and 32 percent have no money 
     left for emergencies, compared to 13 percent of White men who 
     report that they have no money left for emergencies;
       Whereas the lack of affordable, accessible childcare during 
     the COVID-19 pandemic led to 14 percent of Latina women, and 
     32 percent of immigrant Latina women, to quit their jobs or 
     reduce their number of work hours to care for their children.
       Whereas the underpayment of workers who are Latina women 
     causes businesses and the economy of the United States to 
     suffer;
       Whereas the lack of access to affordable, quality 
     childcare, paid family and medical leave, and other family-
     friendly workplace policies forces many Latina women to 
     choose between their paycheck or job and getting quality care 
     for themselves or their family members, a dynamic that 
     contributes to the wage gap and has been further exacerbated 
     by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as Latina women 
     disproportionately work in essential jobs that put them at 
     greater risk of exposure to COVID-19;
       Whereas, if the wage gap were eliminated, on average, a 
     Latina woman working full-time, year-round would have enough 
     money to afford approximately 3 years of childcare, to pay 
     off her student debt in 1 year, or to pay off 19 months of 
     the average mortgage payment;
       Whereas 25 to 85 percent of women have been sexually 
     harassed at the workplace, and research has found that only 
     about 1 in 10 women who experience harassment formally report 
     those incidents for reasons that include lack of access to 
     the complaints processes and fear of retaliation;
       Whereas workplace harassment forces many women to leave 
     their occupation or industry or pass up opportunities for 
     advancement, which contributes to the gender wage gap;
       Whereas targets of workplace harassment were 6.5 times more 
     likely than non-targets to change jobs;
       Whereas there is a high personal cost to women who have 
     been sexually harassed, including unemployment, 
     underemployment, and financial stress resulting from changing 
     jobs, which leads to long-term consequences for earnings and 
     career attainment;
       Whereas \2/3\ of workers paid the minimum wage or less than 
     the minimum wage in 2020 were women, and there is an 
     overrepresentation of women of color in low wage and tipped 
     occupations;
       Whereas the pay disparity that Latina women face is part of 
     a wider set of disparities that Latina women encounter in 
     homeownership, unemployment, poverty, access to childcare, 
     and the ability to accumulate wealth;
       Whereas true pay equity requires a multifaceted strategy 
     that addresses the gendered and racial injustices that Latina 
     women face daily; and
       Whereas many national organizations have designated 
     December 8, 2022, as Latina Equal Pay Day to represent the 
     additional time that Latina women have had to work into this 
     calendar year to receive the earnings of their White, non-
     Hispanic counterparts in the prior year: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That Congress--
       (1) recognizes the disparity in wages paid to Latina women 
     and its impact on women, families, and the economy of the 
     United States; and
       (2) reaffirms its support for ensuring equal pay for equal 
     work and closing the gender wage gap.

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