Last night, in another shameful action, the Trump administration halted an initiative designed to advance fair pay for women and workers of color. The pay data the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was about to begin collecting was designed to help uncover discrimination by requiring employers to collect and report wages by job category, sex, race and ethnicity. Ending this data collection is an assault on fair pay and will undercut efforts to close the wage gap and advance women and minorities in the workplace.
 
Even though it has been more than 50 years since the Equal Pay Act became law, women are only paid, on average, 80 cents for every dollar paid to white men. Mothers face an even greater wage gap of 71 cents for every dollar paid to fathers, and the gap for moms of color and single moms is even more punishing. The administration’s action will undermine efforts to close the wage gap, denying relief to tens of millions of women, many of whom are the sole breadwinners for their families. It also will perpetuate the damage the wage gap causes to our economy.
 
The Office of Management and Budget’s claim that this change is meant only to ease the burden on employers and will not impede efforts to boost equal pay is insulting. This commonsense rule resulted from a years-long effort to bolster economic opportunity for women and people of color. We call on the Trump administration to reverse this decision, support the Paycheck Fairness Act, and commit to ending the wage gap once and for all.