Data Show Gaps in Women's Income
Black and Asian women with bachelor's degrees earn slightly more than similarly educated white women, and white men with four-year degrees make more than anyone else.
A white woman with a bachelor's degree typically earned nearly $37,800 in 2003, compared with nearly $43,700 for a college-educated Asian woman and $41,100 for a college-educated black woman, according to data being released today by the Census Bureau. Hispanic women took home slightly less at $37,600 a year.
The bureau didn't say why the differences exist. Economists and sociologists suggest possible factors: the tendency of minority women, especially blacks, to more often hold more than one job or work more than 40 hours a week, and the tendency of black professional women who take time off to have a child to return to the work force sooner than others.
Employers in some fields may give extra financial incentives to young black women, who graduate from college at higher rates than young black men, said Roderick Harrison, a researcher at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that studies minority issues.
"Given the relative scarcity, if you are a woman in the sciences -- if you are a black woman -- you would be a rare commodity," Mr. Harrison said.
Because study in the area is limited, it is hard to pinpoint specific reasons, said Barbara Gault , research director at the Washington-based Institute for Women's Policy Research.
"It could be the fields that educated black women are choosing," she said. "It also could be related to the important role that black women play in the total family income in African-American families.
Notions that black women are struggling financially as much other groups are shouldn't be dismissed, Ms. Gault added.
For instance, nearly 39% of families headed by a single black woman were in poverty, compared with 21% of comparable families led by white women, according to census estimates released last year.
A white male with a college diploma earns far more than any similarly educated man or woman -- in excess of $66,000 a year, according to the Census Bureau. Among men with bachelor's degrees, Asians earned more than $52,000 a year, Hispanics earned $49,000 and blacks earned more than $45,000.
Workplace discrimination and the continuing difficulties of minorities to get into higher-paying management positions could help explain the disparities among men, experts say.
Demographics may offer an explanation: There are millions more college-educated white men in better paying jobs than there are black, Hispanic or Asian men.
Minorities also suffered more financially as a result of the 2001 recession and its aftermath, as has been the case with past economic downturns, said Jared Bernstein, chief economist with the Economic Policy Institute.
The figures come from the Census Bureau's annual look at educational achievement in America, culled from a survey in March 2004. Questions about income were asked for the previous calendar year.
Regardless of race or gender, a college graduate on average earned over $51,000, compared with $28,000 for someone with only a high school diploma or an equivalent degree. College-educated men typically made $63,000, compared with $33,000 for men with just a high-school education.
Among women, a college graduate earned more than $38,000, compared with nearly $22,000 for a high school graduate.
美国各族裔职业女性收入各异
有学士学位的黑人女性和亚裔女性的收入要比同等学历的白人女性收入略高，而同等学历的白人男性收入最高。
人口普查局(Census Bureau)周一发布的数据显示，2003年，一名有学士学位的白人女性的收入接近37,800美元，而同等学历的亚裔女性年收入接近43,700美元，黑人女性为41,100美元。西班牙裔女性的收入略低一些，年收入不到37,600美元。
人口普查局没有说明出现这些差异的原因。经济学家和社会学家认为，可能的理由是：少数族裔妇女，尤其是很多女性常常打两份工，甚至更多，每周工作时间超过40小时；其次，黑人职业女性辞职生孩子后，返回职场也比其他女性更快。
政治和经济研究联合中心(Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies)是一个专门研究少数族裔事项的智囊机构，该中心研究员罗德里克?哈里森(Roderick Harrison)说，有些雇主会给那些毕业成绩好于黑人男性的黑人女性更高的工资。
哈里森说，“有些专业人才本来就很难得，如果你是学的是科学──又是黑人女性──那就奇货可居了。”
华盛顿的妇女政策研究学会(Institute for Women's Policy Research)研究部主任芭芭拉?高尔特(Barbara Gault)说，针对这个领域的研究还很少，所以很难准确指出具体原因。
“这可能与大学毕业的黑人女性择业方向也有关系，”她说，“也可能与黑人妇女对非洲裔美国人家庭总收入的贡献较大有关。”
高尔特接著说，人们认为黑人女性在经济上的困境毫不亚于其他族裔女性的观点也不容忽视。
比如说，去年人口普查局发布的数据就显示，接近39%的单身黑人母亲家庭都处于贫困状态，而单身白人母亲主持的家庭约有21%处于贫困状态。
但是，大学毕业的白人男性的收入比任何同等学历的其他族裔男性和女性的收入都要高，人口普查局数据显示他们的年收入超过66,000美元。其他大学毕业男性的年收入分别为：亚裔男性年收入超过52,000美元，西班牙裔男性收入49,000美元，黑人男性收入超过45,000美元。
专家们认为，工作场合的歧视和少数族裔进入较高收入管理层难度不断加大，可能是导致不同族裔男性收入差别的原因。
从人口数据可以看出：较高收入职位上的白人男性比黑人、西班牙裔和亚裔男性多出上百万人。
经济政策学会(Economic Policy Institute)首席经济学家杰瑞德?伯恩斯坦(Jared Bernstein)认为，2001年经济衰退以及后续的经济低迷给少数族裔的经济状况带来了沉重打击，这和以往经济衰退期间的表现并无二致。
以上数据来自人口普查局2004年3月份对受教育美国人成就的年度调查结果，接受调查的人们汇报了他们上个日历年的收入情况。
如果不去分种族和性别，一位美国大学毕业生的平均年薪超过51,000美元，高中或同等学历美国人的平均年薪是28,000美元。男性大学毕业生的年薪一般是63,000美元，男性高中毕业生年薪一般是33,000美元。
女性大学毕业生年收入一般超过38,000美元，而女性高中毕业生年薪接近22,000美元。
