[Keilar:] Closing gender pay gap has long been important to President Obama. The Fair Pay Act was the very first legislation that he signed into law as president in 2009. And now, new statistics show the divide between what men and women earn on average at the White House, itself, may still need a little bit of work. CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski is joining me with details. So, the White House is maybe not living up to the details?
[Michelle Kosinski, Cnn White House Correspondent:] Hey, Brianna, pay is not bad here at the White House, including by gender. They have pay grades by title, male or female, everyone working with each level is making exactly the same. Where this got confusing and a little strange is that when you take this as average as the White House repeatedly uses to push for more pay equality in America and apply that to the White House yes, there is also still a wage gap right here.
[Kosinski:] It's one of President Obama's top agenda items. You hear it just yesterday.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] Let's make sure women earn pay equal to their efforts.
[Kosinski:] And back in April, this
[Obama:] The average full time working woman earns just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns.
[Kosinski:] Well, that's been one tricky statistic that's the U.S. on average. But it doesn't explain is the fact that more women hold lower paying jobs in a number of fields. For the highest paying roles, the field of applicants in many fields is predominantly male, for a number of reasons, including choice. And those fields include the White House where more women hold lower paying positions and where if you use the same average used in a lot of the rhetoric, then the White House pay gap has women earning 88 cents to the dollar. And that hasn't changed in six years.
[Josh Earnest, White House Press Secretary:] I wouldn't hold up the White House as the perfect example here. There is no doubt that there is more that we could do to approve our record here at the White House, when compared to the pride detector, our record stands pretty strong.
[Kosinski:] However, when you look at equal pay for equal work, which has been the real push behind the White House's efforts, the White House itself seems right on Target. Top tier assistants to the president, male or female, Denis McDonough and Susan Rice and Josh Earnest and Jen Palmieri, all earn exactly $172,200. Another groupings of employees by job also have the exact same say pay rate, male or female. Again, over all, more women do hold the lower-paying jobs. [on camera]: To be more specific, if that average doesn't necessarily represent equal work for equal pay, is it really fair to say that in America, it's 77 cents to the dollar, female-to-male?
[Earnest:] Again, what I would say is there are a variety of metrics that can be consulted to evaluate whether or not whether or not equal work leads to equal pay.
[Kosinski:] So, the White House doesn't want to back off from using that statistic, even though at times when explaining the White House wage gap, it seems to contradict a value of using that average in America at all Brianna.
[Keilar:] Michelle Kosinski, very interesting report. Thank you. And that's it for me. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Brianna Keilar in THE SITUATION ROOM. And, "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.