Raphael Stevens

Overrepresentation of women in low-paying jobs is a major driver of the wage gap.
Economists call this dynamic “occupational segregation.”
Black women lost $39.3 billion in potential wages in 2019. Hispanic women missed out on $46.7 billion.

Women rally to demand equal pay for women and an end to the wage gap .
Creative Touch Imaging Ltd. | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Women in low-paying industries, particularly Black and Hispanic women, are losing billions of dollars every year, which exacerbates an already stark gender pay gap in the U.S., according to a new analysis by the Labor Department.
The report, released Tuesday, ranks the nation’s top 20 jobs with the highest median income. Only one — nurse practitioner — is dominated by women. Nine of them are more than 75% male, and the rest are relatively evenly split between men and women. However, eight of the jobs with the lowest pay are predominantly held by women.

Economists call this dynamic “occupational segregation,” and Black and Hispanic women are especially susceptible. The Labor Department estimated that differences in industry and job concentration cost Black women $39.3 billion in potential wages in 2019. For Hispanic women, the total was even greater, at $46.7 billion.
“Occupational segregation is bad for a lot of different reasons,” said Sarah Jane Glynn, a senior advisor at the Labor Department’s Women’s Bureau and one of the authors of the report. “It stifles individual potential, but it also inhibits innovation. It makes the labor force less adaptable to changes, and it obviously has impacts on individual families’ economic security, but also their ability to spend back into the economy.”
The new data coincides with Equal Pay Day, which is held annually on March 15 to mark the additional time it takes the average woman to earn what the average man made by the end of the previous year. According to government data, a woman who worked full-time in 2020 was paid 82% of the wages of a man who worked full-time.
Private analysis shows the gap persists despite women’s increasing levels of education. A new report by Payscale, a compensation management firm, found women with master’s degrees in business earned only 76 cents for every dollar made by a male with an MBA. Female lawyers make 89% of the salary of their male counterparts. 
“[W]ith the pressure of rising wage inflation, minimum wage increases, and strong competition for talent, we can expect more pay compression and pay inequity issues to arise,” said Ruth Thomas, pay equity strategist at Payscale.

The Labor Department has found that 42% of the wage gap is the result of occupational segregation, which was exacerbated by the pandemic. Women are heavily employed in many front-line industries that were hit hard by the lockdowns. And within those sectors, women were more likely to get laid off.
For example, women made up 44% of the workers in retail in 2019 but accounted for 50% of the layoffs in 2020. The disparity was even worse for Black women: They represented 6% of retail employees but made up 15% of the job losses. 
In education and health, 75% of the workers were women in 2019 and 79% of the jobs cut in 2020. And Black and Hispanic women bore a disproportionate share of those losses. 
“These jobs in these sectors are devalued because of the folks who are doing the work,” Glynn said. “It’s the fact that it’s women — and often what color who are doing this labor — that has been shown to directly lead to its devaluation. And this is part of the reason why occupational segregation contributes to the wage gap.”
Labor officials pointed to a wide swath of social factors that contribute to occupational segregation ranging from unequal child care responsibilities to a lack of networks and mentors to workplace discrimination. On Tuesday, the White House will issue a new regulation that would ban the use of prior salary history in the federal hiring process in hopes of diminishing the wage gap. President Joe Biden is also slated to sign an executive order encouraging pay equity and transparency among federal contractors. 
One potential silver lining for the future: Occupational segregation is slowly declining with each generation. But Glynn said it could still take years to determine how the recovery from the pandemic and the current tight labor market might reshape the workplace for women.
“It does appear that over time we’re seeing less gender differentiation in terms of jobs that folks are taking, but it’s certainly not disappearing entirely,” she said.

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In 2021, more than a dozen states added or expanded earned income tax credits, a write-off for low- to moderate-income families.
Generally, working families with children earning roughly $42,000 to $57,000 qualify for state EITCs, depending on marital status and family size.
“Overall, it’s a relatively well-targeted form of tax relief,” said Katherine Loughead, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation.

Valeriy_G | iStock | Getty Images

Flush with cash, more than two dozen states enacted tax breaks in 2021, including earned income tax credits, or EITCs, a boon for low to moderate earners. 
Generally, working families with children earning roughly $42,000 to $57,000 qualify for state EITCs, depending on marital status and family size, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, with the largest benefit typically going to those making around $11,000 to $25,000.

“State EITCs cost a heck of a lot less than rate cuts because only so many people benefit from them,” said Richard Auxier, senior policy associate at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
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In 2021, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington, added or expanded EITCs, with some going into effect for future tax years, according to the Tax Policy Center.
While the federal EITC is refundable, meaning it reduces tax bills or provides a refund regardless of liability, some state-level EITCs are nonrefundable, covering only up to taxes owed.

“The earned income tax credit is a great tool for states to use to help lower-income workers because they get to piggyback off the work of the federal government,” Auxier said.

Workers may receive the federal EITC based on earnings, phasing out above certain income levels, and the state-level tax breaks are typically a percentage of the federal credit, following the same eligibility rules.
“They just copy and paste the federal rules, stick them in the state tax code, and then give a percentage of the amount of money that they got from the federal credit,” he said.
However, every state is different and the latest round of changes may vary, Auxier said.
For example, refundable credits may range from 3% in Montana to 50% in Maryland, according to the IRS. There’s also an earned income tax credit in New York City worth up to 5% of the federal credit.
Still, policy experts say these state-level changes may offer much-needed relief at tax time.

Overall, it’s a relatively well-targeted form of tax relief.

Katherine Loughead
Senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation

Low-wage workers have been among the hardest hit during the pandemic, said Samantha Waxman, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“These folks have been more likely to lose their jobs and their income due to Covid-19,” she said. “Or if they work as front-line essential workers and have been able to keep their jobs, they tend to have higher infection risk.”
Retail, healthcare and food services are among the most common industries for EITC-eligible workers. 

“Overall, it’s a relatively well-targeted form of tax relief,” said Katherine Loughead, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation. “It’s means-tested in a way that benefits those most in need, while also encouraging participation in the labor force.”

Federal EITC boost for 2021

The American Rescue Plan expanded the federal EITC through 2021, allowing more workers without children to qualify. The boost also lifted age limits, making the credit available to younger workers. 
President Joe Biden called for making these changes permanent in the American Families Plan, which could provide $12.4 billion to families in 2022, affecting 19.5 million workers, according to research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. However, the status of this proposal is unclear. 

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The volatility index, also known as the VIX, essentially takes a reading of the stock market’s blood pressure, measuring investors’ fear.
The VIX can spike when investor concerns are heightened by events like the raising of interest rates by the Federal Reserve or the Covid-19 pandemic.
Investors can use the VIX to help them make buying and selling decisions.

The volatility index, also known as the VIX, essentially takes a reading of the stock market’s blood pressure, measuring investors’ fear.
The VIX can spike when investor concerns are heightened by events like the raising of interest rates by the Federal Reserve or the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It’s just a unique tool that we can actually quantify that [concern],” Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist at Ally Financial, told CNBC.
The VIX is a forward-looking index that weighs volatility based on trading in S&P 500 options.
“It’s measuring implied volatility over the next 30 days, and that’s derived from option activity,” said Jason Snipe, founder and chief investment officer at Odyssey Capital Advisors. “That’s the catalyst for what moves [the VIX] in either direction.”
Investors can use the VIX to help them make buying and selling decisions, or they can indirectly invest in it.
“The most important thing is having a plan for whatever you are investing for, whether you are a trader or an investor,” said Tiffany McGhee, chief investment officer and CEO of Pivotal Advisors.

Watch the video above to learn more about how the VIX measures fear, the mechanics behind implied volatility and why it matters to investor portfolios.
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Delta, United and Southwest say bookings came in ahead of expectations after the omicron wave subsided.
All three carriers are facing higher fuel prices, their biggest expense after labor.

American Airlines planes at LaGuardia Airport
Leslie Josephs | CNBC

Travel demand has bounced back faster than expected this year, airlines said Tuesday, a welcome rebound for an industry battered by Covid and a sign that carriers will be able to pass along higher fuel prices and other costs to customers this year.
U.S. jet fuel prices last week spiked to their highest level since 2008 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sparked worries about scarcer crude supplies as countries sanctioned the oil producer. Though jet fuel prices have eased, they’re still up 35% so far this year.

Delta Air Lines said it expects revenue to make up for “more than 100%” of the jump in fuel prices during the second quarter. The Atlanta-based carrier reiterated that bookings said bookings are outpacing 2019.
Ahead of an investor presentation Delta said it expects first-quarter sales to come in at 78% of 2019 levels, up from a forecast in January for a recovery of as little as 72% of 2019 levels.
Airlines have been comparing revenue and capacity to 2019 to show how much they have recovered since before the pandemic.
United Airlines said it expects first-quarter revenue to “be near the better end” of guidance for a 75% to 80% recovery from three years earlier.
Shares of the carriers rose 6% apiece in premarket trading.

“System bookings for future travel have improved close to 40 points since the first week of 2022 and business traffic has increased more than 30 points since the peak of the Omicron impact in January 2022,” United said in a filing.
American Airlines said it expects first-quarter revenue to be off 17% from 2019, better than its January forecast for a two-year drop of as much as 22%.
Southwest Airlines raised its revenue outlook to as much as 92% recovered from 2019 levels. Southwest and American shares were each up more than 4%.

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Movie theater chain AMC Entertainment has agreed to purchase a major stake in a Nevada gold and silver miner.
AMC will spend $27.9 million in cash for the deal, receiving roughly 23.4 million shares for the company, Hycroft Mining Holding Corp., and an equal amount of stock warrants.
The deal would make AMC the owner of roughly 22% of Hycroft.

Adam Aron, AMC Entertainment president and CEO.
David Orrell | CNBC

Movie theater chain AMC Entertainment has agreed to purchase a major stake in a Nevada gold and silver miner, the companies announced Tuesday, an unusual expansion for the one-time meme stock.
AMC will spend $27.9 million in cash for the deal, receiving roughly 23.4 million shares for the company, Hycroft Mining Holding Corp., and an equal amount of stock warrants. The deal would make AMC the owner of roughly 22% of Hycroft.

Hycroft shares nearly doubled in premarket trading. AMC shares, which are down 50% this year alone, gained 3.2% in premarket trading.
AMC CEO Adam Aron, in a release explaining the move, cited the recent success of theatrical releases “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “The Batman,” as well as positive forecasts for the box office this year. He also drew parallels between his company and the miner.
“Our strategic investment being announced today is the result of our having identified a company in an unrelated industry that appears to be just like AMC of a year ago,” he said. “It, too, has rock-solid assets, but for a variety of reasons, it has been facing a severe and immediate liquidity issue. Its share price has been knocked low as a result. We are confident that our involvement can greatly help it to surmount its challenges — to its benefit, and to ours.”
AMC’s stock emerged as one of the main “meme stocks” last year, surging as an army of retail investors bought into shares of companies that were heavily shorted by hedge funds. Aron has embraced the new shareholders, including offering popcorn deals for owners of the company.
The company has also used its newfound popularity to raise billions in additional capital, with Aron saying some of that money would be used for strategic acquisitions. Aron has sold tens of millions of dollars of his own shares in AMC, which he has attributed to estate planning. AMC is also experimenting with a new pricing model that charges more for certain movies.

In addition to AMC, the same number of shares and warrants in Hycroft is being purchased by metals investor Eric Sprott. Hycroft said in its release that investment vehicle Sprott Private Resource Lending II has agreed to extend the maturity of its debt to May 2027 from May 2025.
As part of the deal, Hycroft will no longer be required to make regular principal payments on that debt and will instead be expected to pay it all back in a single “bullet” payment in 2027, according to a securities filing.

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Several investors, led by Trillium Asset Management, are urging Starbucks to adopt a global policy of neutrality for all current and future attempts of its workers to organize.
They also want Starbucks to reach “fair and timely” collective bargains with workers who vote to join the union.
The group, which overall has more than $3.4 trillion in assets under management or advisement, says it holds at least $1.2 billion in Starbucks stock.

Michelle Eisen, a barista at the Buffalo, NY, Elmwood Starbucks location, the first Starbuck location to unionize, helps out the local Starbucks Workers United, employees of a local Starbucks, as they gather at a local union hall to cast votes to unionize or not, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in Mesa, Ariz.
Ross D. Franklin | AP

Several investors, led by Trillium Asset Management, are urging Starbucks to adopt a global policy of neutrality for all current and future attempts of its workers to organize. They also want Starbucks to reach “fair and timely” collective bargains with workers who vote to join the union.
In a letter to Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson and Chair Mellody Hobson, the coalition of more than 75 investors warns of reputational risk for the coffee giant, citing growing public support for unions.

The outreach comes ahead of Starbucks’ annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday and includes signatories Trillium, SOC Investment Group, Parnassus Investments and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander. The group, which overall has more than $3.4 trillion in assets under management or advisement, says it holds at least $1.2 billion in Starbucks stock. This is the second such letter it has sent to the company’s CEO, the group said.
“We believe the way Starbucks has responded to union organizing activities suggests a departure from international norms and standards as well as from its commitments to them. Our concerns include Starbucks’ activities at stores that have organized after the Buffalo election such as alleged retaliatory termination of employees and continued captive audience meetings,” the letter says.
Starbucks did not immediately respond to request for comment.
To date, more than 130 Starbucks stores in 26 states have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to unionize, according to organizers Starbucks Workers United. Of the seven stores that have held elections, six cafes have sided with the union. Five of those locations are in the Buffalo, New York, market, where the unionization efforts began last summer, and the other cafe is in Mesa, Arizona.
Starbucks has maintained that marketwide votes are appropriate as opposed to single-store counts so that all workers would be able to participate. So far, the NLRB has rejected that premise.

Starbucks Workers United has accused the company of retaliation and union-busting tactics, which the company has denied. Last week, the organizers said they filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, claiming Starbucks has cut workers’ hours as retaliation and financial punishment for organizing or supporting the union, which the company has also denied.
“The company has spent decades working to improve its ESG profile, build its reputation on environmental, social, and governance factors. We are really concerned that they are putting their reputation at risk,” Jonas Kron, chief advocacy officer at Trillium, told CNBC in an interview.
“Now they have to choose, they can keep down a path of respecting their workers by allowing free and fair elections by adopting this policy of neutrality … but if they don’t do it, then they’re going to risk burning all that goodwill they’ve built over the years,” said Lander, the New York City comptroller.
The coalition argues that respecting the union is in Starbucks’ best interest for productivity and growth.
“We believe that when workers’ rights are ensured, their interests represented, and their needs properly communicated, companies and workers alike benefit. Benefits may include lower turnover, more resilient and risk-tolerant operations, more effective feedback loops, higher employee satisfaction and productivity, and, in turn, higher quality and more innovative products and services,” the investors write in the letter.
“Customers have a choice, and this is going to be the one,” Dieter Waizenegger, executive director of SOC Investment Group, told CNBC. “The company should work very hard to make sure that it keeps its reputation as a people-positive company, and I think that should include really being a good partner to its partners.”
Starbucks shares closed down over 4% Monday and are down over 32% year to date.

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