Latinas Experience Largest Wage Gap Among Women in New York City, Study Finds

Studies over the years have showcased the gender and racial wage gap that afflict many communities. However, a recent report focuses on the earning discrepancies Latinas face in New York City and found that they experience the largest gender and racial wage gap.

On Oct. 31, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer made a call to action after releasing his new report, “Inside the Gender Wage Gap, Part II,” which reveals that Latinas, despite their vast contributions to the city, experience the largest and racial wage gap among women in New York.

Just how significant are the differences? The new analysis finds that Latinas must work more than two years to make what white men make in a single year.

According to Stringer’s report, over a 40-year career, the median full-time working Latina in New York City would lose on average $1.5 million in earnings because of the gender wage gap. This means that she would have to work an additional 42 years to attain the same earnings as the median full-time employed white man.

In 2016, Latinas working full-time in the city made 49 cents for every dollar paid to white men, or $38,000 less on average — making them the largest wage gap among women of color. More than half, a total of 53.4 percent, of employed Latinas make less than $25,000.Latinas in New York City also experience a wage gap that is larger than Latinas anywhere else in the state and in the country.

However, if the gender wage gap were closed, according to Stringer’s analysis, the more than 300,000 Latinas working full-time, year-round in New York City would have collectively contributed roughly $11.8 billion more in earnings to the local economy.

Additionally, the report found that Latinas account for more female-headed households with children in the city than any other group of woman in the Big Apple.

Latinas are also the primary breadwinners of households with multiple generations, with one in three women employed in lower-wage service occupations. They also take on the majority of paid care work in the city, but also a huge share of its unpaid care work.

Latinas make up more than one-tenth, or 12.6 percent, of the city’s labor force but are underrepresented in higher-wage occupations, while holding one in five, or 20.3 percent, jobs in the lower-wage service industry.

The wage gap has a profound impact and could be a reason as to why three in ten, or 29.5 percent, of Latinas live in poverty in New York City, according to the report. This rate marks the highest percentage of all groups and is three times the poverty rate among white men.

The analysis says that “more than 55 years after passage of the first federal labor law recognizing the harms of wage discrimination on women, wage disparities clearly persist. But data on earnings capture only part of the story of economic inequality for Latinas. Indeed, Latinas also have among the highest unemployment rates of any group and, despite overall increases in educational attainment, face barriers to accessing the higher education needed to gain entry to many higher-paying fields.”

In order to address the inequalities, Stringer says that guarantee access to family-sustaining wages, expand and create equitable access to affordable child care and paid leave, invest in programs to increase educational and occupational equity and strengthen enforcement of anti-discrimination laws and practices must take place.

To see the full report, click here.