A new fact sheet released by the Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) shows that the earnings ratio between women and men edged upward in 2007, making up some ground after years of stalled progress. According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2007 the ratio of women's and men's median annual earnings was 77.8 for full- time year-round workers, up from 76.9 in 2006. (The gender wage gap, then, is 22.2.) Women's median annual earnings were $35,102, compared with men's earnings of $45,113. While men's and women's median annual earnings increased by similar dollar amounts from 2006 to 2007 ($1,653 for men and $1,665 for women), the change for women represents a bigger boost as a share of their (lower) earnings (an increase of 5.0 percent for women versus 3.8 percent for men).

"While this gain is relatively small, it is a relief to see some progress toward equality in earnings between women and men," said Dr. Vicky Lovell, IWPR's Acting Director of Research. "The most promising thing about these new numbers is that both women's and men's earnings increased in 2007."

"Economic data for 2008, however, suggest a less rosy picture for the current year," according to Dr. Lovell. Unemployment has risen among adults from a rate of 4.9 in January 2008 to 5.7 percent in July, according to data from the BLS' monthly Employment Situation reports (Table 1). Problems in the labor market are concentrated among workers of color: 10.0 percent of African American men, and 7.5 percent of African American women, were unemployed in July 2008. Hourly and weekly earnings are down, from $18.50 in January (in real dollars) to $18.06 in July for hourly earnings, and from $623.36 in January to $606.82 in July for weekly earnings.

At the same time that overall incomes rose in 2007, poverty increased for many groups. The overall poverty rate remained statistically the same in 2007 as in 2006 (12.5 and 12.3 percent, respectively), although, with growth in the population, the number of Americans in poverty rose (from 36.5 million in 2006 to 37.3 million in 2007). But poverty rates rose for women, men, and single mothers of almost every racial and ethnic group (Table 2). Only white women and Asian American women and men saw a decrease in their poverty levels.

Just as in the year prior, women were more likely to be poor than men, with 13.8 percent of women and 11.1 percent of men living in poverty. Among women, large gaps also exist. About one quarter of African American and Hispanic women lived below the poverty line in 2007 (26.5 percent and 23.6 percent, respectively), compared with 10.7 percent of Asian American women and 9.2 percent of white, non-Hispanic women.

Female-headed families with children also continued struggled in 2007. The poverty rate for single mothers is three times the overall poverty rate (37.0 and 12.5 percent, respectively). More than two in five African American single-mother families (43.9 percent) and nearly half of Hispanic single-mother families (46.6 percent) lived in poverty.

"Being female continues to jeopardize one's economic security, and being a mother creates an additional economic disadvantage," noted Erica Williams, a Study Director at the Institute. "Clearly, the benefits of last year's economic growth were reserved for a privileged group, while millions of Americans struggled to make do."

To obtain a copy of this fact sheet, please go to www.iwpr.org/ pdf/C350.pdf. To schedule an interview, please contact Elisabeth Crum at 202-785- 5100, ext. 24, or crum@iwpr.org