Black women—who are earning degrees at higher levels than ever before—continue to make less than two-thirds the pay of White men amid an uncertain and slowing job market.
WASHINGTON — Two new publications from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) highlight the unique challenges that Black women face in today’s sluggish labor market and refute core assumptions about the persistence of the wide pay gap between Black women and White men.
The publications detail the uneven job prospects for young Black women and the ways the wage gap—65 cents on the dollar for Black women working full-time year-round and 63 cents for all Black women workers compared with non-Hispanic White men—is compounded throughout their professional lives. According to IWPR analysis, the earnings disparity occurs at every level of educational attainment.
“The barriers to earnings and employment equity for Black women can’t be eliminated by telling Black women to simply pursue more education,” said IWPR President and CEO Dr. Jamila K. Taylor. “Black women have been getting more degrees and are still making a fraction of what they deserve, at every level.”
“At the same time, they’re contending with disproportionate job losses, crushing student debt, and huge disparities in caregiving support. Until we recognize and address this as the systemic issue it is, Black families will continue to encounter barriers to their financial security and well-being, and our whole economy will remain worse off.”
Both analyses were released ahead of Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, observed this year on July 21. “Barriers, Not Bootstraps: Job Prospects Are Uneven for Young Black Women” examines three potential explanations for the rising unemployment rate among young Black women and finds that the sharp increase in 2025 was not because of relative educational attainment, differences in opportunities across job sectors, or a rise in the share of younger job-seekers. Additional findings:
Young Black women in 2025 were twice as likely to be unemployed as young White women: In August 2025, nearly 1 in every 5 young Black women was unemployed.
It took Black women workers longer to find a job in 2025: In December, Black women had spent a median of 19 weeks unemployed before finding a job, compared with 9 weeks for White women—a gap 10 times larger than it was the previous December.
At every education level, the unemployment rate for Black workers is higher than that of White workers and rose in 2025.
Despite recent slowdowns and large-scale government job losses, health care and private education—the sector in which the largest share of Black women typically work—still has some of the highest levels of job openings.
Among full-time year-round workers with a bachelor’s degree, Black women’s median salary is $61,404, compared with $98,409 for White men with the same degree.
Black women with professional degrees (such as JD or MD degrees) had the largest gap in earnings among all other levels of education.
IWPR’s latest economic analyses underscore the need for policy solutions to address the challenges and pay inequity Black women face in the workforce, including stronger enforcement of workplace antidiscrimination and civil rights protections, cancellation of student loan debt, removing graduate student loan limits, and advancing laws that help ensure equitable pay and workforce participation.
Previously, IWPR highlighted the ongoing employment volatility for Black women amid persistent inflation and the affordability crisis, as shown in recent BLS Jobs Reports. Earlier this year, IWPR published a report finding that between January and August of 2025, Black women’s job losses were more than half of all women’s job losses.
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The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) is the nation’s leading think tank working to win economic equity for all women. Through evidence-based research, policy solutions, and advocacy, IWPR is advancing the power and well-being of women across the US. Learn more at IWPR.org.
