We already know that most people in the U.S. don't think that women get paid less than the men in their field. But a study shows that the gender pay gap is real — and just how wide that gap is depends on the career.On Wednesday, Glassdoor released a new study called Demystifying the Gender Pay Gap. The company looked at more than 500,000 salaries for specific job titles at specific companies shared anonymously by employees online. The results show that men earn about 24% higher base pay than women on average, which the study refers to as the "unadjusted" pay gap. Long story short: That means that on average, women are paid about 76 cents for every dollar men get.
There are a lot of factors that affect pay, like industry, occupation, education, and age. And when Glassdoor factored in age, education, years of experience, job title, employer and location, the “adjusted” gender pay gap fell to 5.4% in the U.S., meaning women with the exact same qualifications earn 94.6 cents when men earn a dollar.
Now, that doesn't mean that the adjusted pay gap isn't real or important: It has been illegal for companies to pay men and women different salaries for doing the same job since 1963. While Obama has made closing the wage gap one of his passion projects, progress has been excruciatingly slow. And make no mistake: These "small" discrepancies really add up over time.
One of the most interesting parts of Glassdoor's new study was a breakdown of occupations with the largest and smallest adjusted gender pay gaps — after factoring in differences between jobs and workers.
Click ahead to see the 10 best and worst careers for equal pay in the U.S.
Worst: Computer Programmer
The occupation with the highest gender pay gap was computer programmer — with a gap of 28.3%. Female computer programmers earn, on average, 72 cents per dollar earned by men, after controlling for all differences between jobs, companies, and workers. That's a gap roughly five times larger than the U.S. average of 5.4%.
Best: Social Worker
The occupation with the smallest gap — a sizeable gap in the opposite direction, actually — is social worker at -7.8%. This means women earn, on average, 108 cents per dollar earned by men working in the same job title, same company, and with similar background and experience.
Worst: Chef
Chef was tied for the second highest gender pay gap: 28.1%.
Best: Merchandiser
The occupation with the second smallest adjusted gender pay gap is merchandiser with a -7.6% gap.
Worst: Dentist
Dentist shares a 28.1% gender pay gap, along with chef.
Best: Research Assistant
Research assistant holds the third spot for the smallest gender pay gap, with -6.6%. Glassdoor notes that it's an occupation primarily comprised of graduate student workers at various U.S. universities, which makes sense given that more women are in graduate school than men.
Worst: C-Suite
C-suite occupations, or corporate senior executive positions, took the third spot for largest pay gap with 27.7%. Glassdoor notes that this is consistent with academic research showing a persistent gender pay gap among executive-level positions in the U.S.
Best: Purchasing Specialist
Purchasing specialist — a role that typically involves making all business-related purchases for a company, as well as record-keeping — holds the fourth spot on the "best" list, with a gap of -5.5%.
Worst: Psychologist
Psychologist rounded out the top five positions with the largest gender pay gap — with a gap of 27.2%. It was followed on the list by pharmacist (21.8%), CAD designer (21.5%), physician (18.2%), optician (17.3%), pilot (16%), and game artist (15.8%).
Best: Physician Advisor
Physician advisor rounded out the top five careers with the smallest gender pay gaps, with -2.4%. It was followed on the list by communications associate (-2.2%), social media (-1.9%), health educator (-0.9%), procurement (-0.8%) and business coordinator (-0.5%), which all also have gaps showing women earn more than men with equivalent credentials in those jobs.
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