In Celebration of 100 Years of African American Economists, the NEA Webinar Series Presents...

Dr. Michelle Holder

For Black women the wage gap swells is about 39 cents, leaving them earning 61 cents for every dollar men earn. How does this happen?
"Black Women and the “Double Gap” in Wages in the American Labor Market"

Co-sponsored by the American Economic Association, the Roosevelt Institute, and the Institute for New Economic Thinking

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Webinar Description

There are over 10 million black women in the American labor force. One thing many of them share in common, besides their gender and race, is that their labor is undervalued. Recent estimates suggest the “gender wage gap” in the U.S. is currently about 20 cents—for every dollar men earn working full-time, women earn about 80 cents. However, where black women are concerned, the gap swells to about 39 cents, leaving them earning 61 cents for every dollar men earn. How does this happen? Partly because employers know which workers are more highly valued, as reflected in their compensation, but most black working women don’t know if, or when, they are being undervalued and underpaid.

Using three different methodologies in research on what Holder calls the “double gap in wages” black women face in the American labor market, she quantifies that annual size of “involuntarily forfeited” earnings borne by black women who work in the private, for-profit sector. In this research Holder also discusses individual and collective as well as public and private sector approaches that can narrow the "double gap."

This webinar is co-sponsored with the American Economic Association.