Women Make 77 Cents for Every Dollar a Man Makes

Census Bureau shows little change in recent years
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 18, 2013 6:11 PM CDT
Women Make 77 Cents for Every Dollar a Man Makes
   (Shutterstock)

The gap in pay between men and women seems officially stuck in place: New Census Bureau stats show that women earned 76.5 cents for every dollar that men made in 2012, an amount that hasn't changed much in a decade, reports the Wall Street Journal. Overall, men who worked full time had a median annual wage of $43,300, compared to $37,800 for women.

Things get worse when race is taken into account, notes a piece at Salon. Black women earned 69 cents for every dollar earned by men, and Hispanic women just 58 cents. Women now outnumber men in college, which bodes well for a future narrowing of the gap, but increasing education is "not enough to totally change these trends," says a female economics professor at Cornell. One factor often cited is that women tend to work fewer hours than men so they can take care of the kids. (More gender gap stories.)

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