September 05, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Women's earnings 76 percent of men's in 2000

In 2000, median weekly earnings for female full-time wage and salary workers were $491, or 76 percent of the $646 for their male counterparts.

[Chart data—TXT]

In 1979, when comparable earnings data were first available, women earned about 63 percent as much as men did.

The difference between women's and men's earnings is larger among middle-aged and older workers than it is among younger ones. For example, among workers aged 45 to 54, women earned 72.7 percent as much as men did in 2000 and, among those 55 to 64 years old, the women's-to-men's earning ratio was 68.5 percent. In contrast, among those aged 16 to 24, women earned 91 percent as much as men, and among 25- to 34-year-olds, women's earnings were 81.9 percent of those of men.

These data on earnings are produced by the Current Population Survey. Earnings data in this article are median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers. More information can be found in "Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2000," BLS Report 952 (PDF 193K).

 

Related TED article:

• Women's earnings growth higher than men's at all education levels, 1979-2000