By Anna North
As Vox’s Sarah Kliff explains, we often talk about “the wage gap” as a single entity, but there are many different wage gaps. In 2016, Asian-American women made about 88 centsfor every dollar white men made, while white women made 79 cents, black women made 62 cents, and Hispanic women made 57 cents. Black and Hispanic men also make less than white men, on average, while Asian-American men make a bit more. These disparities also vary by state and by occupation — some jobs have smaller wage gaps than others.
While the wage gap in some occupations is shrinking — women pharmacists, for instance, are doing much better than they used to — pay inequality overall has been slow to change. At the current rate, women overall will reach parity with men in 2059, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. For black women, and for women living in North Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, and Louisiana, the gap won’t close until the 22nd century. For Hispanic women, it won’t close until the 23rd.
