Policy Research Shop Testimony: June 1, 2015

PRS Students Testify on Paycheck Fairness to New Hampshire Women’s Foundation

On Monday, June 1, 2015, Policy Research Shop students Megan Mishra ’17 and Kevin Zhang ’17 traveled to Concord, New Hampshire to meet with the Research and Policy Committee of the NH Women’s Foundation, chaired by New Hampshire Women’s Foundation President and CEO Terie Norelli. They arrived to present the results of several months of research on how to ameliorate New Hampshire’s wage gap. On average, working women in New Hampshire earn seventy-eight cents for every dollar that men earn, and The Paycheck Fairness Act in New Hampshire (SB 207), which went into effect on January 1, 2015, looks to close this gender wage gap by allowing employees to discuss their salaries and identify employer discrimination without the threat of legal retribution. The question the students addressed was how New Hampshire’s legislation might best be implemented.

The students provided the members of the committee with an analysis of practices adopted by similar states to implement paycheck fairness legislation. They also reviewed a series of best practices undertaken by government, private companies, and public-private partnerships that provide options and opportunities to consider while combatting New Hampshire’s wage gap. Finally, the students provided the committee with copies of their report, “New Hampshire Paycheck Fairness Act: Awareness, Compliance, and Implementation Methods,” PRS Policy Brief 1415-09, which was written by Megan and Kevin in collaboration with Sarah Han ’17.

Learn more about the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation and read all the PRS reports, including this one, at the Policy Research Shop page.