Latinas Will Wait 216 Years for Equal Pay at Current Rate

by Web Admin | Nov 1, 2017 | News & Updates

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2017
Contact: Jennifer Clark | 202-785-5100 | clark@iwpr.org

In advance of Latinas Equal Pay Day, a new estimate shows slow progress on closing the wage gap, especially for women of color

Washington, DC—If trends over the last 30 years continue, Hispanic women will not see equal pay with White men until 2233—216 years from now—according to a new projection released by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) in advance of Latinas’ Equal Pay Day on November 2—the day symbolizing how far into the year that Latinas must work to earn what White men earned in the previous year.

In 2016, Hispanic women earned 54 cents for every dollar earned by a White man. An IWPR analysis based on new data released in September by the U.S. Census Bureau found that, at the median, Hispanic women who work full-time for an entire year still receive pay (at $31,522) low enough to qualify a family of four for food stamps.

“If left unchecked, pay inequality could harm several generations worth of families and cripple future growth of the United States economy,” said economist and IWPR President Heidi Hartmann, Ph.D.

Women’s Median Earnings as a Percent of Men’s, 1985-2016 (Full-time, Year-Round Workers) with Projections for Pay Equity, by Race/Ethnicity

IWPR has previously found that women overall will not see equal pay until 2059, but the pace of change varies significantly by race and ethnicity. The exceptionally slow pace of progress for Hispanic women, for instance, is nearly two centuries behind when White women should expect to see equal pay with White men (2056). Black women are not projected see equal pay until 2124, 107 years from now.

Census Bureau data show that, although women saw the first statistically significant narrowing of the wage gap since 2007, Hispanic women’s earnings remained virtually unchanged from the previous year. White and Asian women saw their earnings increase (by 5 and 3 percent, respectively), while Black women’s earnings declined by 1.3 percent.

IWPR’s researchers recommend a number of policy interventions to address the low wages of Hispanic women, including raising the minimum wage, fully enforcing non-discrimination laws, preventing wage theft, and improving Hispanic women’s access to good jobs, higher education, paid leave, and affordable child care.

“216 years ago, the United States was a new country inaugurating its third president. In the two centuries since, our country welcomed millions of immigrants and summoned its deep supply of innovation and imagination to tackle big, world-defining issues. Do not tell me we can’t figure out how to pay women the same as men,” Dr. Hartmann said.

The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that conducts and communicates research to inspire public dialogue, shape policy, and improve the lives and opportunities of women of diverse backgrounds, circumstances, and experiences.

Washington Update

by Web Admin | Oct 18, 2017 | News & Updates

Fed’s Harker Says Job Training Needed to Boost U.S. Economy (Reuters)

October 5, 2017

Business, governments and other organizations should stop looking at job skills training as social welfare and see it instead as a path to better jobs, higher paying wages, and faster growth, a Federal Reserve Policymaker said on Thursday.

The remarks were made at a conference on workforce development in Philadelphia. “The U.S. economy succeeds when we back programs that move people out of poverty and into stable, sustainable employment.”

Read the full article here

Latino Dropout Rate Plummets as College Enrollment Hits Record High (NBC)

October 4, 2017

In five years, the Hispanic dropout rate fell 6 percentage points — to 10 percent in 2016, from 16 percent in 2011 — among Latino students aged 18 to 24.

The drop is significant considering that Latino students make up a growing share of the nation’s students. Hispanic enrollment in kindergarten through college increased by 80 percent from 1999 to 2016, from 9.9 million to 17.9 million.

The report notes that Latinos still lag when it comes to educational attainment, particularly college completion.

Read the full article here

Trump’s Apprentice Plan Seems to Need a Mentor (New York Times)

September 28, 2017

President Trump has called for increasing the number of apprentices nationwide to 5 million from roughly 500,000 today. To do this, he wants to direct $100 million of federal job training money to the program. He also wants to relax federal standards for “registered” apprenticeships, which require a mentor, salaries that increase with experience, and minimum hours of formal instruction in both the classroom and workplace.

But research and recent experience suggest this approach could backfire. Over the last decade, Britain tried to increase the number of apprentices through a mix of public subsidies and changes that watered down the definition of apprenticeship. The result? Subway took out ads to hire “apprentice sandwich artists” who would be paid the minimum wage.

Read the full article here