Obama Calls For Equal Pay as Pay Gap Persists at White House

President Barack Obama again called on Congress to pass equal pay legislation to ensure female employees are paid as much as their male counterparts during Tuesday evening’s State of the Union address.

“Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages,” Obama said. “That’s why this Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It’s 2015. It’s time.”

The Obama administration pays female White House staffers less than male White House staffers over his six years in office, multiple reports has revealed.

According to a Washington Post analysis of 2014 salary data conducted over the summer, the White House paid the average male employee $88,600 while the average female employee earned $78,400 — a pay gap of 13 percent. That pay gap was 13 percent in 2009 as well.

The White House’s pay gap, however,  is less than the national pay gap the White House and Democrats decry as 23 percent.

While the White House has acknowledged its wage gap, it claims that it is doing better than the national average.

“The White House is doing appreciably better than the country is doing more broadly, but we have a lot more work to do,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in June.