November 29, 2004 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Differences in earnings by sex, race, and Hispanic origin

Asian workers of both sexes earned more than their white, black, and Hispanic or Latino counterparts in 2003, although the differences among women were smaller than those among men.

[Chart data—TXT]

Asian women’s median weekly earnings ($598) were 5 percent higher than white women’s earnings ($567), 22 percent greater than black women’s earnings ($491), and 46 percent higher than the earnings of Hispanic or Latino women ($410). In comparison, Asian men’s earnings ($772) were 8 percent higher than the earnings of white men ($715), 39 percent greater than the earnings of black men ($555), and 66 percent higher than those of Hispanic or Latino men ($464).

Earnings differences between women and men were widest for whites and Asians. White women earned 79 percent as much as white men in 2003 and Asian women earned 78 percent as much as Asian men. Both black and Hispanic women’s earnings were about 88 percent of their male counterparts’ earnings.

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. For more information see "Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2003," BLS Report 978 (PDF 208K).