The White House released its annual salary report last week (30 June), revealing a 20% difference in men’s and women’s average earnings.

However, a conservative think tank says the true figure under President Trump’s leadership is almost 37% – more than tripling the 11% gap of President Obama’s final year.

According to a report from economist Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on the median pay rather than the average pay revealed “the typical female staffer earned 63.2 cents per $1 earned by a typical male staffer.”

The 20% (rounded up from 19.6%) figure had come from the average, or mean, salary: $84,500 (£65,246) for female staffers and $105,000 (£81,075) for male.

However Perry argues the median is more accurate, revealing a 36.8% difference – $72,648 (£56,106) for women and $115,000 (£88,815) for men – that reflects “what a typical female staffer at the White House is paid compared to what a typical male staffer is paid.”

The White House’s gender pay gap has tripled under President Trump