Based on today’s wage gap, women would lose $406,280 over the course of a 40-year career. For Latinas the career losses mount to $1,163,920, and for Black women the losses are $964,400. If we don’t act to close the wage gap, a woman just starting out today stands to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of her career, undercutting her ability to provide for herself and her family, as well as her retirement security.
This “lifetime wage gap” exists across the country: in every single state, career losses for women overall based on today’s wage gap would amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars — and in 11 states women’s career losses would amount to more than half a million dollars.
And the situation is even worse for many women of color living in certain states. Compared to what white, non-Hispanic men make, the lifetime wage gap would amount to more than $1 million for Asian women in three states, for Black women in 13 states, for Latinas in 28 states, for Native American women in 17 states, and for Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander women in 13 states.