When Starbucks announced this week that it has achieved 100 per cent pay equity at its stores in the United States, the company’s statement noted that it could take until 2119 to close the gender pay gap across the entire U.S. economy.

For some readers, 2119 appeared to be a typo. Surely, Starbucks meant to say 2019?

Will it really take more than a hundred years for men and women in the U.S. to earn equal amounts of money for the same or similar jobs performed? According to a report released last year, yes.

An American Association of University Women (AAUW) analysis of U.S. census data found that, on average, women working full time are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to men. The report calculated that, at the current rate of progress in addressing the pay discrepancies, gender pay equity will not be achievable until the year 2119. 

“At the rate of change between 1960 and 2016, women are expected to reach pay equity with men in 2059. But even that slow progress has stalled in recent years,” the AAUW said.  “If change continues at the slower rate seen since 2001, women will not reach pay equity with men until 2119.”

That was the figure cited in the latest Starbucks announcement. The coffee company is now promising to work “with deliberate speed” to address the gender pay gap in its markets worldwide, including Canada. 

The most recent Canadian numbers show that women on average earn 87 cents for every dollar made by a man.

With files from The Canadian Press