Knowledge Center

Earnings and Income of U.S. Women and Men

  • The median annual earnings for full-time, year-round women workers in 2012 was $37,791 compared to men’s $49,398.1
  • In 2013, the median weekly earnings for full-time working women was $706, compared to $860 for men.2
  • In 2013, the median weekly earnings for women in full-time management, professional, and related occupations was $973, compared to $1,349 for men.3
  • In 2012, full-time working married women with spouses present had median usual weekly earnings of $751, somewhat higher than never married women ($594) or women of other marital status (divorced, separated, or widowed - $735).4
  • In 2012, full-time working married men with spouses present had median usual weekly earnings of $981, significantly higher than never married men ($620) or men of other marital status ($815), or women of any marital status.5
  • In 2013, Asian women who were full-time wage and salary workers had higher median weekly earnings than women of all other races/ethnicities as well as African-American and Latino men.6
 
 

Wage Gap in the United States

  • Based on median annual earnings for full-time, year-round workers, women earned 76.5% of men’s earnings in 2012.7
  • Based on the median weekly earnings for full-time workers, (which excludes self-employed and full-time workers who work only part of the year), in 2013 women earned 82.1% as much as men.8
    • In 1979, women earned 62.1% as much as men.9
  • The earnings difference between women and men varies with age, with younger women more closely approaching pay equity than older women (2012, median weekly earnings), for full-time wage and salary workers.10
PAY EQUITY BY AGE11
Age Groups Women’s % of Men’s Earnings
20-24 89.0%
25-34 90.2%
35-44 78.1%
45-54 75.1%
55-64 76.2%
65+ 77.6%

 

 

  • The gender wage gap also varies by industry. The biggest wage gap in the U.S. is in the Financial Activities industry, with women earning 70.5 cents for every dollar men make.12
  • Male doctors make 25.3% more than female physicians; this means male doctors make over $56,000 more than female doctors.13

Overall, Husbands Outearn Their Wives

  • 62.4% of husbands outearned their wives in married-couple families in which the wife had earnings.  This means that only 37.6% of wives outearned their husbands. This statistic is based on 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics data that looked at all wives with earnings. However, the husbands in this group included men who work as well as those who are retired, in school, on disability, unemployed, or without earnings.14
  • 71.9% of husbands outearned their wives among dual-earner couples.3   The percentage of wives who outearn their husband drops to 28.1% when we only consider married couples in which both partners have an income, called “dual-earner couples.” The vast majority of working wives (86.8%) have working husbands.15

Education

  • Education is a factor in income – statistics show that higher degrees lead to higher median salaries. For full-time workers data below, men earn more than women in each category.16
EARNINGS BY DEGREE AND SEX17
Degree Median weekly earnings, women Median weekly earnings, men
Doctoral $1,371 $1,734
Professional $1,415 $1,836
Master’s $1,125 $1,515
Bachelor’s $930 $1,199
Associate’s $682 $880
High school graduate, no college $554 $720
 
  • Earnings for women with college degrees have increased by 28.5% since 1979 (on an inflation-adjusted basis) compared to a 17.4% increase for male college graduates.18

Earnings and Income of Canadian Women and Men

  • For full-time workers in 2013, women earned 82.4% of men’s earnings, based on average weekly wages. In 1997, the wage gap was 77.2% for full-time workers.19
PAY EQUITY IN CANADA20
Year Women's Earnings as a % of Men's Earnings for Full-Time Workers
1997 77.2%
2000 76.6%
2005 79.8%
2010 81.6%
2011 82.6%
2012 81.6%
2013 82.4%

 

  • For all workers, including full- and part-time, women earned 67.7% of men’s earnings in 2013, based on average weekly wages.21
  • In Canada, 18% of dual-earner wives are now their families' primary breadwinners when measured in hourly earnings, bringing in more than 55% of the household income.22
    • This is up from 14% in 1997.23

Gender Pay Gap Globally

  • Gaps in earnings of women and men vary from country to country. Korea and Japan have the highest gender wage gap, at 39% difference and 29% difference between women and men’s salaries. Hungary is the lowest with 4%.24

 

 


 

How to cite this product: Catalyst. Catalyst Quick Take: Women's Earnings and Income. New York: Catalyst, 2014.

9 Reader Comments

Will says:
1/15/2014 12:08:49

Perception... Gotta hate it

Patrick Hugh Friel says:
1/29/2014 10:28:58

But where is the data details to make a case for bringing women's wages to a par equal to men? I see a lot of numbers and averages but who are the victims that are seeking to be made whole?
A case could be made if one were to stand on a busy street corner outside a factory and randomly gather 50 women and 50 men; asking each how much they earn. If the data showed that men earned more than the women how would that PROVE discriminatory wage policies? Each individual's work history would have to be examined in order for any case to be made. Throwing out raw data is meaningless without the pesky devil's details.
I'm a "details" guy; I go into stories with a prosecutor-like mindset. If someone or some group cries foul I'm on their side while, at the same time, I need clarity before becoming their booster. I will continue to read through, immersing myself in your website, where I will hopefully find my answers.
Respectfully submitted,
Pat Friel

etroiano says:
1/31/2014 02:10:03

Hi Patrick. This is a Quick Take, which is a product line that focuses almost exclusively on raw data and sources. For more complex research, browse the Catalyst Knowledge Center and filter by Report. For additional detailed information specifically about pay gap, check out The Institute for Women's Policy Research, under Initiatives --> Employment, Education & Economic Change --> Pay Equity & Discrimination.

Patrick Hugh Friel's picture
Patrick Hugh Friel says:
2/1/2014 02:21:35

Emily, thank you very much for steering me in the right direction.
Having perused the research papers offered on the IWPR website my next step is to immerse myself in the data to learn much more about the issues facing women's pay inequity in the workplace.

Lizbeth Burguete says:
10/3/2014 12:42:25

Equality means "the state of being equal, especially in status, rights, and opportunities" If a men and a woman are doing the same exact job, their gender shouldn't make a difference in pay!!!

etroiano says:
2/3/2014 12:18:56

Glad to help, Patrick. And if you haven't already, consider joining our partner org, MARC. MARC stands for Men Advocating Real Change, and is an "online learning community for professionals committed to achieving equality in the workplace. MARC empowers community members to engage in candid conversations about gender, its impact in the workplace, and how to lead change through member-generated advice, insights, and best practices." It's free. It's also really interesting resources and dialogue.
http://onthemarc.org/home

J. Dun says:
4/13/2014 02:48:11

I understand a major source of difference is even for "full-time" work, men work 10-20% more hours than women. If this includes overtime hours, then the pay difference is even greater. Do you have number on hours worked? Should the pay difference be normalized to that for industries that are not salaried, but traditionally paid by the hour?

Cheryl's picture
Cheryl says:
4/14/2014 11:28:11

Hi J - There's a lot of research on this.

First off, check out this recent article about how pharmacies and how hours are assigned are changing the gender wage gap:
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/03/closing_the_gender_wage_gap_what_pharmacies_can_teach_us.html

Check out the American Time Use Survey to see how much time on an average daily basis women and men spend working. Men do spend more time working in a paid environment. Interesting to see the differences:
http://www.bls.gov/tus/tables/a1_2012.pdf

Should you have further questions, please fill out this form here: http://www.catalyst.org/what-we-do/services/ask-catalyst

candice says:
9/1/2014 03:37:29

Interesting article! Found alot of articles on this trend. It has been discussed alot and its great to see some numbers behind it: http://www.hippo.co.za/blog/money/six-things-women-pay-more-for-than-men/

Leave A Comment