White men still out-earn all women, but one group out-earns white men: Asian men.
Newly released data from the Pew Research Center show that Asian men brought in median hourly earnings of $24 last year. That is $3 more than white men.
The nonprofit think tank notes:
Large racial and gender wage gaps in the U.S. remain, even as they have narrowed in some cases over the years.
Pew Research Center reports that men’s median hourly earnings in 2015 were:
- Asian men: $24 per hour
- White men: $21
- Black men: $15
- Hispanic men: $14
Among women, Asians also out-earn their peers. Pew reports that women’s median earnings in 2015 were:
- Asian women: $18 per hour
- White women: $17
- Black women: $13
- Hispanic women: $12
The good news is that while white men still out-earn all groups of women, every group of women has made progress in closing the pay gap between themselves and white men since 1980. Pew attributes this partly to “a significant increase in the education levels and workforce experience of women over time.”
The bad news is that black and Hispanic men have made no progress in narrowing the income gaps between themselves and white men since 1980. Pew attributes this to lingering differences in educational levels, noting that “U.S. workers with a four-year college degree earn significantly more than those who have not completed college.”
Asians come out ahead here too. Among adults who are at least 25 years old:
- Asians: 53 percent have at least a bachelor’s degree
- Whites: 36 percent
- Blacks: 25 percent
- Hispanics: 15 percent
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