October 14, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Women's earnings as a percentage of men's, 2008

Women's earnings as a percent of men's, by race and ethnicity, 1979�2008
Year (1)	Women's earnings as a percent of men's
Year (1)	Total	White	Black or African American	Asian	Hispanic or Latino ethnicity
1979	62.3	61.7	74.4		71.7
1980	64.2	63.4	75.8		73.5
1981	64.4	63.1	76.9		75.7
1982	65.7	64.5	78.1		75.5
1983	66.5	65.6	78.9		78.5
1984	67.6	66.8	79.5		77.7
1985	68.1	67.2	82.6		77.7
1986	69.5	67.9	82.8		80.6
1987	69.8	68.2	84.4		82.0
1988	70.2	68.4	82.8		84.4
1989	70.1	69.3	86.5		85.4
1990	71.9	71.5	85.3		87.4
1991	74.2	73.7	86.1		90.4
1992	75.8	75.3	88.2		89.1
1993	77.1	76.5	88.8		90.5
1994	76.4	74.6	86.5		88.9
1995	75.5	73.3	86.4		87.1
1996	75.0	73.8	87.9		88.8
1997	74.4	74.6	86.8		85.7
1998	76.3	76.1	85.5		86.4
1999	76.5	75.7	83.8		85.7
2000	76.9	75.8	84.1	79.9	87.8
2001	76.4	75.8	85.8	76.9	88.2
2002	77.9	77.9	90.3	74.9	88.0
2003	79.4	79.3	88.5	77.5	88.4
2004	80.4	79.8	88.8	76.4	87.3
2005	81.0	80.2	89.3	80.6	87.7
2006	80.8	80.0	87.8	79.3	87.1
2007	80.2	79.4	88.8	78.1	91.0
2008	79.9	79.3	89.4	78.0	89.6
Footnotes: (1) The comparability of historical labor force data has been affected at various times by methodological and conceptual changes in the Current Population Survey (CPS).
NOTE: Beginning in 2003, estimates for the above race groups (white, black or African American, and Asian) include persons who selected this race group only; persons who selected more than one race group are not included. Prior to 2003, persons who reported more than one race were included in the group they identified as the main race. Data for 2000-02 are for the category Asians and Pacific Islanders. Starting in 2003, Asians constitute a separate category. For more information, see the Historical Comparability documentation. Data for Asians were not tabulated prior to 2000.

These data featured in the TED article, Women's earnings as a percentage of men's, 2008.

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