--- title: 'Gen Z''s Gender Pay Gap: Young Women Expect Much Lower Salaries Than Men' description: Young women have lower starting salary expectations than men. That's part of the reason for Gen Z's gender pay gap, a new report says. authors: - name: Mary Ellen Cagnassola role: Reporter url: https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/ bio: Mary Ellen (M.E.) Cagnassola is a former reporter at Money, where she covered Social Security, retirement, housing, and employment. Her work reflects her commitment to service and equity in consumer finance. education: Rutgers University, BA Journalism at_money_since: 2021 articles: 205 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Business - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes former_staff: true editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Business - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-02-23T20:16:22.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:06:49.000Z' section: Career Advice tags: - News word_count: 310 canonical: https://money.com/gen-z-gender-pay-gap-salary-expectations/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Gen Z Woman Walking On Top OF Graph Made Out Of Cash](https://img.money.com/2023/02/News-Gen-Z-Women-Lower-Expectations-High-Starting-Salary.jpg) [Gen Z](https://money.com/gen-z-bigger-tax-refunds-2023/) may be known for being progressive, but young people may still be influenced by the gender wage gap when it comes to salary expectations, according to a [new report](https://joinhandshake.com/network-trends/gen-z-salary-transparency/). Handshake, a college career network, surveyed over 1,800 new college graduates seeking jobs. The results show that even with [pay transparency](https://money.com/dollar-scholar-pay-transparency/) shrinking the [gender wage gap](https://money.com/how-to-address-gender-pay-gap-in-your-company/) in the U.S., Gen Z women respondents have lower salary expectations than men. ## What the data says - Gen Z women entering the workforce may be underselling themselves: Women respondents expected $6,200 less in pay than men, on average, and the results were consistent across all racial and ethnic groups. - Overall, Gen Z respondents said they felt a high starting salary is about $82,000, on average. As the cost of living increases, respondents are also more likely now to apply for jobs with high starting pay, the report says. - The choice of [college majors](https://money.com/college-majors-recent-grads-unemployment-rates/) also impacts pay expectations. [Engineering](https://money.com/highest-paying-jobs-in-engineering/) graduates, who are mostly men, expect the highest salaries among their peers. - Gen Zers have their priorities straight — respondents said stability, benefits and a high starting salary are most important to them in their [job search](https://money.com/best-job-search-sites/). ## Why it’s important - New [pay transparency laws](https://money.com/pay-transparency-laws-help-get-raise/) are changing what information goes into company job listings, and ultimately they could put more power (and money) in the hands of workers. Handshake found among the job listings in their network, 1.3 times as many companies are providing salary ranges since 2020. - But the legacy of pay inequality between men and women won’t disappear overnight. Handshake says women’s salary expectations perpetuate the wage gap because they’re lower from the get-go. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/gen-z-gender-pay-gap-salary-expectations/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Career Advice", "item": "https://money.com/career-advice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Salaries and Wages", "item": "https://money.com/salaries-and-wages/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Gen Z's Gender Pay Gap: Young Women Expect Much Lower Salaries Than Men" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/gen-z-gender-pay-gap-salary-expectations/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/gen-z-gender-pay-gap-salary-expectations/", "name": "Gen Z's Gender Pay Gap: Young Women Expect Much Lower Salaries Than Men", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-02-23T20:16:22.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/gen-z-gender-pay-gap-salary-expectations/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/gen-z-gender-pay-gap-salary-expectations/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:06:49.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Gen Z's Gender Pay Gap: Young Women Expect Much Lower Salaries Than Men", "articleSection": "Career Advice", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/02/News-Gen-Z-Women-Lower-Expectations-High-Starting-Salary.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Gen-Z-Women-Lower-Expectations-High-Starting-Salary" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Ellen Cagnassola", "url": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/mary-ellen-cagnassola/#author", "description": "Mary Ellen (M.E.) 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