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Progress toward gender wage equality is slowing

May 28, 2026  |  Staff
Jobs Brief |Jobs, Workers, Wages, Gender, Income

Over the last decade, Vermont narrowed the gender wage gap. From 2014 through 2021, women’s median wage grew at 3.5 times the rate of men’s, closing the gap from 16 cents to just 7 cents per dollar.

But between 2021 and 2024, that trend reversed. Men’s wages grew four times as quickly as women’s over that period. In 2024, women working full time earned $61,000 annually, compared with $67,000 for men.

This month

In April Vermont’s unemployment rate remained below the rate of most other states, including all the New England states, and the U.S. as a whole. Vermont’s unemployment rate was 2.6 percent, the fourth lowest in the country, while the national rate was 4.3 percent. South Dakota had the lowest rate nationally, at 2.2 percent.