Biden moving to narrow gender pay gap for federal workers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is marking Equal Pay Day by taking new steps aimed at ending the gender pay gap for federal workers and contractors. President Joe Biden on Tuesday (March 15, 2022) is signing an executive order that encourages the government to consider banning federal contractors from seeking information about job applicants’ prior salary history. And a Labor Department directive is aimed at strengthening federal contractors’ obligations to audit payrolls to help guard against pay disparities based on gender, race or ethnicity. Equal Pay Day is designed to call attention to how much longer women must work to earn what men earned in the previous year.