Equal Pay Day 2016: Unmarried Women, Race, and the #WageGap

April 12, 2016

Today is Equal Pay Day: a date that symbolizes how far into 2016 the average woman would have to work just to make as much money as the average man made in 2015. Because the average woman makes 80¢ for every $1 a man makes, she’d have to work three extra months—all the way through March 2016—just to make as much as the average man made in 2015.

As we pointed out in yesterday’s post, while the wage gap for women overall is awful, the wage gap for unmarried women is even worse; the average unmarried woman makes only 60¢ for every $1 a man makes.

But unmarried women of color are the ones who suffer the most from the wage gap: For every $1 the average man makes, an unmarried African-American woman makes 52¢, an unmarried Latina makes 48¢, and an unmarried Native American woman makes only 47¢. Those numbers look even worse when we consider how long the average woman in each of those groups would have to work just to make the same amount of money the average man made in 2015:

equal-pay-breakdown

That’s just depressing.

And it’s not going to change until policymakers at the state and federal level acknowledge that there’s a problem, and take action to solve it. That’s why efforts like Equal Pay Day are so important, to put pressure on officials to do something about the wage gap.

Please do your part and spread the word.

Read the full memo from the Voter Participation Center and Lake Research Partners about the current wage gap and presidential candidates’ response to the wage gap: Equal Pay Day for Unmarried Women (PDF)

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U.S. Census: Unmarried and Single Americans Week

To commemorate Unmarried and Single Americans Week (September 17-23), the U.S. Census has produced a “Facts for Features” profile (PDF) of 2016 census data about unmarried Americans. Here are some of the highlights:

There are 110.6 unmarried people 18 or older in America, making up 45.2% of the U.S. adult population.
35.4 million Americans lived alone in 2016, representing 28.1% of all US households — up from 17.1% in 1970.
Despite unmarried people being 45.2% of the U.S. adult population, only 39.6% of voters in the 2016 presidential election were unmarried.

Read the rest of the U.S. Census Bureau’s “Facts for Features” profile (PDF) on unmarried Americans.

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Equal Pay Day 2016: Unmarried Women, Race, and the #WageGap

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