Every Policymaker Should Know. . . Equal Pay Women and people of color continue to suffer wage discrimination. Today, women working full-time throughout the year earn 77 for every dollar earned by men. 1 African-Americans earn 78 and Latinos only 67 for every dollar paid to their white counterparts. The wage gap is the result of both discrimination and the concentration of women and people of color in a narrow range of jobs that are underpaid because of who holds them.
Wage discrimination remains commonplace.
These professions are undervalued because they are performed mainly by women, and therefore are paid less than equivalent jobs performed by men. States need to take action now since progress closing wage gaps has stalled and in some cases, gone backwards. Although the wage gap between African American and white men narrowed until 1978, it widened again during the 1980s and showed no clear direction during the 1990s. Earnings comparisons between Latinos and whites also show growing inequality. And for women, progress closing the wage gap has stalled, with much of it due to men's real wages falling.