Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2011

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report revealing in 2011 women who "who were full-time wage and salary workers had median usual weekly earnings of $684,about 82 percent of median earnings for male full-time wage and salary workers ($832)." The report goes on to say that in 1979, "the first year for which comparable earnings data are available,women earned 62 percent of what men earned." The report also provides detailed descriptions of the source of the data as well as an explanation of the concepts and definitions used since earnings differences can be influenced by many factors. The data is taken from the Current Population Survey (CPS) which the U.S. Census Bureau conducts monthly for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Census Bureau surveys approximately 60,000 households each month and collects information on earnings from one-fourth of the CPS sample each month.