The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently issued a report on women’s earnings in 2007. According to the report, women who were full-time wage and salary workers had median weekly earnings of $614, or about 80 percent of the $766 median for their male counterparts. That ratio has grown since 1979 (the first year for which comparable earnings data are available), when women earned about 62 percent as much as men.
Other highlights from the report include the following:
- The difference between women’s and men’s earnings was largest among workers age 55 to 64, with women earning about 73 percent as much as men in this age group. By comparison, women earned 87 percent as much as men among workers 25 to 34 years old, and 92 percent as much among 16- to 24-year-olds.
- Earnings differences between women and men in 2007 were widest for Asians and whites. Asian women and white women earned just under 80 percent as much as their male counterparts. By comparison, black women and Hispanic women earned around 90 percent of what their male counterparts earned.
- Median weekly earnings for married women and men were higher than those for their unmarried counterparts. As a group, married workers tend to be older, so they are more likely to be in their prime earning years. The earnings of married workers of both sexes with children under 18 differed only slightly from those without children. Among unmarried workers, women without children earned 14 percent more than those with children. The opposite was true among unmarried men: Those with children earned 12 percent more than those with no children.
- Sixty-one percent of women and 56 percent of men employed in wage and salary jobs were paid by the hour in 2007. Women who were paid hourly rates had median hourly earnings of $10.98, 85 percent of the median for men paid by the hour ($12.95).
You may view the full report at www.bls.gov/cps/cpswom2007.pdf.