It’s no secret that financial stability has a major impact on the quality of at-home living for families.
Research from the National Partnership for Women & Families found that if equal pay were implemented in the United States, full-time working women would have enough money to pay for 83 more weeks of food for their family, seven more months of mortgage and utility payments, 11 more months of rent or nine more months of birth control.
[Related: A State-by-State Breakdown of the Gender Wage Gap]
With women still making 79 cents for every dollar a man earns, and black women making less than that at 60 cents, it’s clear that the U.S. has a long way to go before workplace equality is reached for all women.
While a gender pay gap is not limited to certain career fields, there are some industries where women tend to fair better financially.
In a report from the Working Mother Research Institute (WMRI), 1,508 working moms were surveyed in key areas such as pay, career stability, access to paid maternity leave and time for personal life and family.
Using the results to see how different lines of work compare to one another in terms of pay and work-life balance, the survey found that moms working in financial services had the highest salary and feel good about their career potential. However, moms in this line of work were not satisfied with the amount of free time they had, compared to working mothers in other fields like healthcare and professional services.
When examining the difference in pay, moms who work in finance earn almost an average of $19,000 more per year than moms who work in retail and apparel. Education also came in as a low-paying field, with just 29% of the teachers surveyed saying they received a raise within the last year.
To see a breakdown of the average individual income per year by industry, take a look at the chart below.
Let us know in the comment section how much consideration you give to both pay and work-life balance flexibility when accepting a job offer.