What is the Big Mac Pay Gap Index?
The Big Mac Pay Gap Index is an interactive tool for understanding what the pay gap means for you.
It shows you how much more a Big Mac would cost you after adjusting the menu price to reflect the pay gap you may face.
So, if you experience a pay gap which means that you earn less than others, then the real cost of a Big Mac for you, once adjusted for your pay gap, is proportionately more than the menu price.
Since men, on average, earn 18% more than women, they face no gender pay gap - and so the real cost of a Big Mac for them is the same as the menu price. For women, however, the real cost of the Big Mac is more, due to the pay gap they experience.
Our new tool is inspired by two older ideas.
The first is the pay gap itself - as in the gap between the average earnings of, say, different genders, or race/ethnicities, or both combined.
The second is the Big Mac Index, a well-known currency comparison tool first developed by The Economist as a lighthearted guide to the buying power of different national currencies - based on the cost of a Big Mac in each country and currency.
Our Big Mac Pay Gap Index blends these two ideas to create a new way of understanding the pay gap.
