Gender pay gap largest in sales, lowest in farm occupations

In 1998, women’s weekly earnings were lower than men’s for full-time employees across all broad occupational categories. The widest gap was the 40.2 percent found in sales occupations. About one in ten women workers were employed in sales jobs.

[Chart data—TXT]

The narrowest gap—11.4 percent—was found in the farming, forestry, and fishing occupations. About one-half of one percent of women employees were in these job categories.

More than a quarter of women workers were employed in administrative support occupations. The earnings differential in that occupational group was 19.3 percent. Overall, women’s median weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers were 76.3 percent of the median earnings for men in such employment.

These earnings data are a product of the Current Population Survey. The earnings data here are the median usual weekly earnings of persons who usually work full time. For more information, see "Women’s earnings: an overview," by Mary Bowler in the December 1999 issue of Monthly Labor Review.