Survey: Pandemic pay cuts hit 34% of workers; fewer women regain lost wages

CHARLOTTE – While COVID-19 has led to millions of lost jobs and a recession, many people who have kept working are not escaping the suffering.

Some 34% of workers say their pay has been cut during the business turmoil created by the COVID-19 pandemic. But the financial misery is worse for women with far fewer of them having regained lost pay than men.

So says a new survey from MagnifyMoney, which is part of Charlotte-based LendingTree. While 37% of respondents reported a loss in pay, 3% did not say the cuts were caused by the pandemic.

“The coronavirus pandemic has crippled many businesses in the U.S., many of which have been forced to close for good,” Sarah Berger, MagnifyMoney’s millennial finance columnistBerger, said.

Burned-out workers in Raleigh want more pay, are threatening to quit, survey finds

Raises also were more rare with the percentage of workers getting a pay bump dropping eight percentage points to 50%.

An equal percentage of men and women reported pay cuts, the survey found. But while 52% of men said their pay had been restored to pre-pandemic levels only 44% of women said they had seen paid restored.

Also, more men (58%) received raises than women (48%) over the past year.

The findings fit with statisics that show a continuing gender pay gap with women earning less than men on average.

Bonuses for all workers also are more rare with 63% saying they won’t get a bonus or less of one than in previous years. “Understandably, many companies are cutting back on bonuses in 2020,” Berger said.