Issues

89 89

83

74 71 68 73

16 to 19

20 to 24

25 to 34

35 to 44

45 to 54

55 to 64

65 and older

Age

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Percent

NOTE: Data are for full-time workers only.

Women's median weekly earnings as a percent of men's by age, 1998

What Women Earned in 1998

U.S. Department of Labor

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Summary 99-5 May 1999

in Labor Statistics

Women who work full time, regardless of age, race, or educational at

tainment, earn less, on average, than

men. Overall, in 1998, median weekly earnings of female full-time wage and salary workers were $456 compared to $598 for men.

Twenty years earlier the pay differential was

even greater, however. In 1979, women who

were full-time wage and salary workers had

earnings that were only about three-fifths those

of men. By 1998, however, women’s earnings

were approximately three-quarters those of

men.

For some demographic groups, the gender

differences in earnings were quite small; for

others they were relatively large. Black and

Hispanic women, for example, had earnings

that were around 85 percent those of their male

counterparts; among whites, the ratio was about

76 percent. Young women and men (those

under age 25) had fairly similar earnings

(young women’s earnings were about 91 percent those of men’s). In contrast, women’s

earnings were much lower than men’s in older

age groups.1

This report presents the highlights of pay

differences between female and male full- and

part-time workers and those paid by the hour

in 1998.

Full-time workers

Age. The difference between women’s and

men’s earnings is relatively large among older

workers. For full-time wage and salary workers ages 45 to 54, women’s median earnings

were 70.5 percent of men’s; for 55- to 64-yearolds, the earnings ratio was 68.2 percent. In

contrast, among workers 20 to 24 years old,

women’s earnings were 89.4 percent those of

men. The earnings ratio for teenagers (16 to

19 years) was 88.5 percent.

Women in the 45-to 54-year age group

earned the most ($516), followed by 35- to

44-year-olds ($498). Men’s earnings also

peaked among 45-to 54-year-olds at $732.

Race. White workers of either gender earned

more than their black or Hispanic counterparts.

The differences among women, however, were

much smaller than among men. White

women’s earnings ($468) were 17 percent

higher than black women’s ($400), and almost

39 percent higher than those for Hispanic

women ($337). In contrast, white men’s earnings ($615) were 31.4 percent higher than the

earnings of their black counterparts ($468) and

57.7 percent more than those of Hispanic men

($390). Since 1979, inflation-adjusted earnings for white women have increased almost

16 percent, while black women’s real earnings

increased 7.5 percent.

Earnings and education. Median weekly

earnings for female college graduates age 25

and over ($707) were two-and-a-half times

those for women without a high school diploma

($283).

Female college graduates have fared better

with regard to earnings growth than their male

counterparts. Earnings for women with college degrees have increased 21.7 percent since

1979 on an inflation-adjusted basis. Real earnings of male college graduates increased less

than 8 percent over the same time period. As a

result, the female-to-male earnings ratio of

college graduates rose from 66.6 percent in

1979 to 75.3 percent in 1998.

Occupation. Women working full-time in professional specialty occupations earned $682 in

1998, more than women employed in any other

major occupation category.

In 1998, 46 percent of full-time workers in

the relatively high paying executive, administrative, and managerial occupations were

women. This was up from 34 percent in 1983,

the first year for which comparable data are

available. Despite changes in occupational

employment for women, they still tend to work

in very different jobs than men. For example,

in 1998 men were about nine times as likely as

women to be employed in precision production, craft, and repair occupations (where earnings are somewhat above the median), while

women were four times as likely to work in

administrative support occupations (where pay

is typically low).

1

 Earnings data in this report are from the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national monthly

survey of approximately 50,000 households conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau

of Labor Statistics. The earnings data are collected

from one-fourth of the CPS monthly sample. For a

detailed description of the source of the data and an

explanation of the concepts and definitions used,

please see the Technical Note included at the end of

the BLS periodical, Employment and Earnings.

Women's median weekly earnings as a percent of men's by age, 1998

NOTE: Data are for full-time workers only.

16 to 19 20 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 and

older Age

Percent
FIRST CLASS MAIL

Postage and Fees Paid

U.S. Department of Labor

Permit No. G-738

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Postal Square Building, Rm. 2850

2 Massachusetts Ave., NE

Washington, DC 20212-0001

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use, $300

Address Service Requested

 Age

 Total, 16 years

 and over .................. $456 $598

16 to 19 ......................... 249 281

20 to 24 ......................... 319 357

25 to 34 ......................... 451 544

35 to 44 ......................... 498 677

45 to 54 ......................... 516 732

55 to 64 ......................... 476 699

65 and older .................. 350 482

Race and Hispanic

 origin

White ............................. 468 615

Black ............................. 400 468

Hispanic origin .............. 337 390

Educational attainment

Less than a high

 school diploma ........ 283 383

High school graduates,

 no college .................. 396 559

Some college or

 associate degree ........ 476 643

College graduates,

 total ............................ 707 939

 NOTE: Earnings data are 1998 median annual

averages for full-time wage and salary workers.

Educational attainment data are for persons 25

years and older.

Characteristic

Part-time workers

Women who worked part time—that is, less

than 35 hours per week—represented 25.8 percent of all female wage and salary workers in

1998. In contrast, 10.7 percent of men in wage

and salary jobs worked part-time.

Female part-time workers’ median weekly

earnings were $161, approximately 35 percent

of the median for women who worked full time.

At $146, earnings for male part-time workers

were about 9 percent lower than female parttimer’s earnings. This was because more than

half the male part-time workers were under 25

years old—ages where earnings tend to be

low—compared to less than a third of the female part timers.

Workers paid by the hour

Women who worked at jobs in which they were

paid by the hour had median hourly earnings

of $8.24 in 1998. About 64 percent of women

employed in wage and salary jobs were paid

on an hourly basis.

In 1998, about 8 percent of women who

were paid hourly rates had earnings at or

below the prevailing Federal minimum wage

Women's and men's median weekly

earnings by selected characteristics,

1998

Women Men

of $5.15. This compares to approximately

5 percent of men paid by the hour.

Age. Among women paid hourly rates, the proportion earning the minimum wage or less varies considerably by age. Teenagers were the

most likely to have earnings at or below the

minimum, while those 45 to 54 years old were

the least likely.

Additional Information

For more information about the data presented

in this report, contact Mary Bowler in the Division of Labor Force Statistics at (202) 606-

6378, or by E-mail at Bowler_M@bls.gov.

Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 1998 (BLS

Report 928, April 1999), provides more extensive tabular material. This report is available on the BLS Internet site,

http://stats.bls.gov/cps/cpswom98.pdf.

Material in this publication is in the public

domain and, with appropriate credit, may be

reproduced without permission. This information is available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 606-

7828; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.