Statement from President Joe Biden on the 14th Anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

Fourteen years ago, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act became the law of the land as the first bill signed during the Obama-Biden Administration. This law creates important protections against pay discrimination and has helped close persistent gender and racial wage gaps that disadvantage women, particularly women of color, in the workplace.

But fourteen years after the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and nearly fifty years after the landmark Equal Pay Act of 1963, we still have work to do to achieve equal pay. Women workers, who perform essential work for our economy and families, are still paid, on average, 84 cents for every dollar paid to men. For women of color, the gap is even greater.

Vice President Harris and I remain committed to strengthening equal pay protections for workers so we can continue to grow our economy, strengthen our communities, and live up to our Nation’s core values of equality and fairness. Last year, I signed an Executive Order to advance pay equity for the Federal workforce and to promote efforts to achieve pay equity for job applicants and employees of Federal contractors, and I’m proud to have signed legislation to provide new protections for pregnant and nursing workers. My Administration continues to call on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, commonsense legislation that would increase pay transparency and give workers more tools to fight sex-based pay discrimination.

Workers on the factory floor, on the soccer field, and in workplaces across the country deserve to be paid fairly for their work. But more is needed to ensure all people have a fair shot in this country. Advancing the economic security of women and their families also strengthens our economy overall, and my Administration remains committed to eliminating pay discrimination and unfair pay practices.

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