Latinas and the Pay Gap

Because of the gender pay gap, Latinas were compensated just 58% of what non-Hispanic white men were paid in 2023. That means it takes Latina workers almost an entire extra year of full-time, year-round work to be paid the average annual earnings of white men.

That statistic compares Latinas working full-time, year-round in 2023 to white, non-Hispanic men. All Latinas who took home earnings in 2023, including seasonal and part-time workers, were compensated just 51% of what all white men workers were paid.

The COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate economic toll on women, most notably women of color, will have economic ramifications for years—compounding existing inequities. Latinas have been hit particularly hard, with surging unemployment and a worse gender pay gap than virtually all other demographic groups, including white women, Black women, Asian women and Native women. At the current rate of progress, Latinas won’t achieve equal pay for another 183 years.

Occupational segregation helps us understand some of the pay gap. Latinas account for nearly 27.4% of sales and related occupations and 29.7% of service occupations, all of which are low-paying jobs. Research shows that women are underpaid compared to men in nearly every job in food service, even after accounting for tips.

In addition to being overrepresented at the low-paying end of the spectrum, Latinas are underrepresented at the top. They make up just 1% of jobs in engineering and computing, the two highest-paying STEM fields. Education is another factor in the gender pay gap. 33.4% of Latinos aged 18–24 enrolled in college in 2021, comparable to 38.1% of the overall U.S. population. While more education helps increase women’s earnings, it still doesn’t close the gender pay gap. Latinas are paid less than white and Asian women are, even when they have the same educational credentials.

As part of the nation’s largest ethnic or racial minority, Hispanic or Latino people are an increasingly influential constituency in the United States. Already accounting for 19.5% of the U.S. population, they are expected to make up nearly one-third of the country by 2060—an increasingly powerful and fast-growing voting bloc.

It will take concerted effort to close the gap—but we can do it. We need to expand educational opportunities and address biases and inequities within the education system; advance equal pay laws and practices, including the federal Paycheck Fairness Act, laws in states and employer practices; and expand how we recruit and train for jobs and promotion pathways.

Last updated on 10/8/2024