Between the Lines Q
A weekly column featuring progressive viewpoints
on national and international issues
under-reported in mainstream media
for release April 8, 2005
Race/Gender Wage Study Reveals Surprising View of U.S. Work Force http://www.btlonline.org/btl040805.html
Interview with Avis Jones-DeWeever, Institute for Women's Policy Research, conducted by Melinda Tuhus
Listen in RealAudio: http://www.btlonline.org/jonesdeweever040805.ram (Needs RealOne player or RealPlayer)
A new report released in late March by the U.S. Census Bureau on the average earnings of workers with a four-year
college education reveals that African American and Asian women earn significantly more than white women. Asian American
women average almost $44,000 a year, while black women make $41,000 and white women just under $38,000. The survey also
shows that white women earn just 58 percent of the $66,000 that white men with a bachelor's degree earn. Among men,
whites earn the most, followed by Asians, then Hispanics with African Americans in last place. Far fewer black men than
black women have college degrees.
One explanation for these disparities offered by economists and sociologists takes into account the fact that minority
women tend to hold more than one job at a time, work more than 40 hours a week and return to the work force earlier than
other groups after child birth. Racial discrimination on the job continues to create obstacles in hiring and advancement
to management positions among men.
Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus spoke with Avis Jones-DeWeever, a researcher and Study Director with the Institute for
Women's Policy Research in Washington D.C., about the survey results. She says that while more analysis is needed to
fully understand the numbers, one thing is clear: Higher education benefits men and women of all ages in the job market.
AVIS JONES-DEWEEVER: The big story here is that education works, and education pays, particularly if you look at, for
example, comparing the earnings of women who don’t have a college degree across race, you find then, that while Asian
Americans are still on top, they are followed by white Americans and then African Americans. So having a college degree
pays for everyone, but it’s particularly important to women of color and especially important to African Americans.
Unfortunately, at both extremes of the educational ladder, Latinas are on the bottom.
Let me also put those numbers into context, because the numbers cited in that article looked at means, or averages.
Typically, economists tend to use medians, and let me tell you the differences and why that’s important. Averages or
means, include people who are at the far end of the spectrum … it could include Oprah, you know what I’m saying, which
could really throw off what that number is. Medians are the numbers that we kind of like to use because they provide a
more fair representation of what the typical person makes. And while the general relationship is still there, in terms
of Asian American women earning the most, then white women, and African American women, then Latinas, there is a big
difference there in what people actually earn. Using those figures, African American women don’t make over $40,000 a
year; their earnings are just $37,000 a year, while white women’s are only $36,000. It’s definitely nowhere near, for
example, the $41,000 that’s attributed to black women when you look at the averages. And I think that’s pretty important
when you talk about what’s really a fair representation of what the typical person makes.
BETWEEN THE LINES: Oh, absolutely. And I guess that would also apply to the average of white men’s earnings of $66,000,
right?
AVIS JONES-DEWEEVER: Exactly. When you change that and look at median instead, for example, the typical earnings of
white men, that drops all the way down to $51,000, for a bachelor’s degree. And then if you look at black men with a
bachelor’s degree, it’s $41,000; for Asian American men, it’s $46,000. And if you were to compare, for example,
bachelor’s degree holders with master’s degree holders, if you’re going to compare them, particularly between blacks and
whites, white women with a master’s degree, their median earnings actually exceed that of black women with a master’s
degree. So it’s a lot more complex than we can really tell from the focus it’s getting today .
BETWEEN THE LINES: And I guess these data also don’t include people who go to law school, or medical school, or business
school, right?
AVIS JONES-DEWEEVER I do have those numbers. That would be considered four years or more. If you look at four years or
more, the same sort of relationship exists that we see when we just look at the bachelor’s degree; it’s just that the
extremes between the two aren’t as much. For instance, the difference between what white and black women earn is only
about $1,000.
And interestingly, one more thing; unfortunately, that aren’t enough women who hold professional degrees and doctoral
degrees to even do those statistics. Those statistics don’t even exist for that particular cohort. They only exist for
white women and Asian American women.
BETWEEN THE LINES: So, what do you make of the data in this report, then?
AVIS JONES-DEWEEVER: I think what we’re seeing here is the context of what’s going on with people culturally, what’s
going on with people in terms of their choices, particularly after they have children, and what’s going on with people
once they get into college ? what they choose to major in. In terms of cultural choices, I think it’s important ?
particularly if you want to compare the black/white dynamic ? I think it’s important to note that African American women
have a long history of work. From the days they set foot on these shores, they have worked, historically agriculturally,
domestically, and it’s only been in somewhat more modern times that other avenues of opportunity have opened up for
them. And the reason that’s important is that black women come from a tradition where it’s not unusual for your mother
to have worked, and given that that’s the case, black women are less likely to see working after having children as
something that’s abnormal, or bad in a sense. Contrast that with a white woman’s experience, who was largely just
introduced to the work world during World War II, taking the place of men who had gone off to war, and then
re-introduced after the women’s movement. So that is a cultural dynamic that perhaps does not have as long of a history
that working is normal after having a child.
So I think part of what we’re seeing here in terms of these earning differentials can be reflected in the likelihood of
African American women to go back to work sooner and work longer hours after having children than her white counterpart
does, particularly among women who have higher levels of education. Another aspect of that is, what are her choices
given her household dynamics. As you mentioned earlier, white men still outpace everyone else in terms of their earning
power.
And because of that, white women perhaps have more options after she has children in terms of whether or not to decide
to go back to work or stay at home a little longer with her child. Black men, though, earn much less than white men, and
there are far fewer of them, numerically speaking, than black women, who have at least a bachelor’s degree. And so,
because of that, black women’s earning power is larger in her specific household than it is for a white woman’s earning
power. Because of that, that might be another pressure that black women feel to go back to work, because she sees it not
only as a cultural norm, but as an economic necessity.
Contact the Institute for Women's Policy Research at (202) 785-5100 or visit their website at http://www.iwpr.org
****************
Melinda Tuhus is a producer of Between The Lines, which can be heard on more than 35 radio stations and in RealAudio
and MP3 on our website at http://www.btlonline.org. This interview excerpt was featured on the award-winning, syndicated weekly radio newsmagazine, Between The Lines for
the week ending April 1, 2005. This Between The Lines Q was compiled by Melinda Tuhus and Anna Manzo.
****************
TO DONATE
It's your future ... help make a difference against the corporate media's blackout of news and viewpoints like those in
the interview above by helping us distribute to a wider audience in 2005! Please send your donation to:
Squeaky Wheel Productions, Inc. P.O. Box 110176 Trumbull, CT 06611
*** Please note: If you would like your donation to be tax-deductible, please make your check out to our fiscal sponsor,
The Center for Global Communications Foundation Inc. (or The Global Center) and send to the above address.***
****************
PRINT INFORMATION: For reprint permission, please email betweenthelines@snet.net.