Rising college graduation rates among black and Hispanic women are among the factors creating a reverse gender wage gap in the United States, according to an article in Time magazine. While the average American woman earns just 80 percent of what the average American man makes, research has found that in 98 percent of 150 of the country’s largest cities, young women have median salaries that are eight percent higher than their local male counterparts. In metropolitan areas such as Atlanta and Memphis, women are banking as much as 20 percent more.
The cities in which young women have surpassed their male peers in earnings have at least one of the following characteristics: a surging minority population, a primary local economy that is knowledge-based or a shrinking manufacturing base. For the time being, the whittling wage gap is only apparent among unmarried, childless women under the age of 30. However, researchers believe these women have enough leverage to maintain these financial gains as they get older.
Source: "Workplace Salaries: At Last, Women on Top," by Belinda Luscombe, Time.com, September 1, 2010.
This article was featured in the September 8, 2010 issue of Diversity Best Practices’ email newsletter, Diversity in the News. To read additional stories from that issue, see the related content section below. To subscribe to Diversity in the News, register on the newsletter page of this website.
