Jobleads Study Reveals Women Enter the Job Market Expecting 9.5% Less Than Men–and the Gap Only Grows From There

An analysis of 881,776 U.S. job seekers shows the gender pay gap is not a single number but a pattern built across five distinct stages of the job search.

NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, March 18, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- With Equal Pay Day just around the corner, JobLeads has published a new study examining how and where the gender pay gap forms. Drawing on behavioral data from 881,776 American users, the research tracks how men and women search, browse, and apply for jobs.

This analysis revealed that the wage gap is not simply a paycheck problem. It’s a cumulative result of differences in salary expectations, application behavior, industry sorting, flexibility trade-offs, and the skill profiles of roles each gender pursues.

The findings show that women earn 83 cents for every dollar men earn, and the data traces exactly how that gap is built, step by step.

"The gender pay gap is often reduced to a single statistic, but that single number is the end result of many smaller gaps that compound across the entire job search," said Jan Hendrik von Ahlen, Managing Director of JobLeads. "Our data shows the gap forming in real time, before a woman even sends her first application. Closing it requires intervention at every stage, not just at the paycheck."

The study highlights several key patterns that help explain the gender wage gap:

- Women's salary expectations are 9.5% lower than those of men
- Over 94% of men who clicked on at least one job submitted at least one application, compared to 81% of women
- Women apply to jobs with a $12,667 lower median salary than men (a 15% gap)
- Women in the Legal sector earn on average $16,107 less than men, despite women making up 62% of the industry's workforce
- Over 23% of women search for part-time jobs, compared to 15% of men
- Jobs requiring predominantly soft skills pay $9,650 less than those prioritizing technical skills and women's roles require 31% soft skills on average versus 25.5% for men

The study identifies the salary expectation gap as the earliest form of wage inequality. Women's average low salary expectation is 9.5% lower than that of men. And this is a difference that appears before a single application is filed. It mirrors broader market trends: in 2025, women earned an average of 83 cents for every dollar men earned based on median hourly earnings, according to Pew Research Center–up from 65 cents in 1982, but progress remains slow.

While men and women browse job listings at nearly identical rates, 94% of men who clicked on at least one job went on to apply, compared to just 81% of women. This gap widens further in male-dominated fields like IT, Consulting, and Engineering, where female application rates fall below 50%. The data also challenges the idea that representation closes the pay gap as women make up 62% of Legal sector workers yet earn $16,107 less than men. Flexibility choices also carry a hidden cost, as women who are 55% more likely to browse part-time jobs. Moreover, women interact with jobs that require 31% soft skills on average, versus 25.5% for men. That soft skill differential correlates directly with an $9,650 median salary gap, as jobs requiring more interpersonal and organizational skills post lower salaries across the board.

Click here to read the full study.

About JobLeads
Founded in 2007 in Hamburg, Germany, JobLeads is a global career platform that helps professionals find the right careers and access high-quality opportunities. Leveraging proprietary data insights and a user-focused approach, JobLeads supports millions of members in over 40 countries to make informed career decisions. For more information, visit jobleads.com.

Maryia Fokina
JobLeads
press@jobleads.com

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