; differences in experience and education; and factors such as race, region and unionization. That leaves 38 percent of the gap unaccounted for, leading researchers to conclude that factors such as discrimination and unconscious bias continue to affect women’s wages. (5) The existence of such wage rate differentials— (A) depresses wages and living standards for employees necessary for their health and efficiency; (B) prevents the maximum utilization of the available labor resources; (C) tends to cause labor disputes, thereby burdening, affecting, and obstructing commerce; (D) burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce; (E) constitutes an unfair method of competition; and (F) contributes to poor living conditions, poor nutrition, and fewer opportunities for families with children under 18 where the mother is the sole or primary breadwinner. (6) Section 6(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 prohibits discrimination in compensation for equal work on the basis of sex. (7) Artificial barriers to the elimination of discrimination in compensation based upon sex, race, and national origin continue to exist more than five decades after the passage of section 6(d) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ( 42 U.S.C. 2000a et seq.). Elimination of such barriers would have positive effects. (A) Problems in the economy created by discrimination through wage rate differentials would be reduced. In 2012, the U.S. economy would have produced additional income of $447.6 billion if women received equal pay