The study looked at how much money men and women make over their lifetimes. They found that women earn almost 50% less than men by the end of their careers. This gap is more than twice as big as the difference in their hourly wages. The earnings gap is biggest at the lower end of the pay scale and gets wider when people start families. Differences in work experience and hours explain most of the gap. For younger people, taking time off work for family reasons is less important, but working longer hours still matters. The earnings gap varies depending on the type of job people have.