Wage disparities based on race, gender persist in US: Poll

A new US poll reveals persisting wage gaps in the United States based on race and gender.

A new poll reveals major wage disparities among Americans based on race and gender, indicating unfair workplace treatment of Hispanic and African American men as well as women in general.
The survey released Friday by the Washington DC-based Pew Research Center found that nearly two-thirds of African American respondents stated that black employees receive harsher treatment in the workplace than their white peers.
This is while only 22 percent of white Americans and 38 percent of Hispanics expressed a similar assessment.
Moreover, 21 percent of African American respondents as well as 16 percent of Hispanics expressed discriminatory treatment in hiring, pay or promotion in the past year merely due to their race. Only four percent of white employees reported a similar experience.
Meanwhile, 40 percent of African Americans said their race had made it more difficult to succeed in life, compared with 20 percent of Hispanics.
While only five percent of white Americans reported similar feelings, 31 percent of them admitted that their race eased their path toward career success.
The poll also found that American women typically still take home smaller paychecks compared to men. Among full and part-time employees in 2015, they earned 83 percent of what their male counterparts made. The gap, however, is significantly higher for African American and Hispanic women.
According to the survey, while racial and gender wage gaps persisted across the United States, they have declined for some groups in recent year. The study used white men as the comparison group, since they comprise the largest lump of the American work force at 33 percent.
It found that all racial and gender groups trail white men in earning, with the exception of Asian men, who made 117 percent of what white men earned in 2015.
Last year, it said, average hourly wages for black and Hispanic men were $15 and $14, while white men made $21 and Asian men pocketed $24.
Women consistently make less income than men of their race, though white and Asian women outearn African American and Hispanic men.
Average hourly earnings in 2015 were $18 for Asian women, $17 for white women, $13 for black women and $12 for Hispanic women.
The survey further points out that such disparities persist among educated citizens. Black and Hispanic men with college degrees earn nearly 80 percent of the hourly wages of white men with similar educational credentials, according to Pew. That share declines to 70 percent for African American and Hispanic women.