Women earn less than men across the board: 79 cents for every $1, according to the latest data. But that’s not true in every job — and in the most unequal professions, the wage gap can be even bigger.
Equal Pay Day: the most unequal jobs in America
Libby Nelson was Vox’s editorial director, politics and policy, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.
The Center for American Progress in 2015 found the most and least equal professions, as measured by women’s median weekly earnings as a percentage of men’s, according to wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Here are the most unequal, with the weekly wage data converted into a rough annual salary (assuming you work 52 weeks per year):
The financial sector looks particularly bad. Women who are personal financial advisors make only 60 percent as much as men in the same field. Women who work on Wall Street as sales agents for stocks, bonds, and commodities make only 67 percent as much as men. And women financial managers make only 70 percent as much as men.
The most equal professions, on the other hand, have two things in common: They employ a lot of people — far more than the least equal professions. But they also don’t pay anyone, men or women, very well:
That’s in line with research finding that the gender wage gap is higher at the top of the income distribution. But these charts are a reminder that, while the fact that men and women pursue different jobs explains part of the gender wage gap, it can’t come close to explaining all of it.
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