Equal Pay Day 2010: Women, 78 Cents, Men, $1
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Today’s the day when women workers finally catch up with the pay men received last year—the day we mark as Equal Pay Day. Being three months and 20 days behind men’s wages means women who work full-time still are paid, on average, 78 cents for every dollar men are paid. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median wages of full-time, year-round workers in 2008 stood at $35,745 for women and $46,367 for men.
The wage gap is even worse for women of color. In 2008, the earnings for African American women were $31,489, 67.9 percent of men’s earnings (a drop from 68.7 percent in 2007), and Latinas’ earnings were $26,846, 58 percent of men’s earnings (a drop from 59 percent in 2007).
The chart here shows the molasses-like movement in closing the wage gap. One way to speed up the progress is to urge lawmakers to support the Paycheck Fairness Act, which was passed by the U.S. House in 2009. It updates the Equal Pay Act by giving employees the tools they need to close the wage gap and providing the government with enforcement power to correct pay inequities. Momsrising has an action here to urge your senator to close the wage gap and back the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Why Working Families and Our Unions Support Biden
As media pundits have noted, Sen. Barack Obama‘s selection of Delaware Sen. Joe Biden adds many years of foreign policy experience to the ticket.
Less well-known is Biden’s long support for working families and their unions. America’s union movement, Biden has said, is
the only thing that keeps the barbarians at the gate.
But he doesn’t stop there.
There is a middle class in this country for one reason and only one reason: the union movement.
