The wage gap between professionals and low-wage workers has widened over the past three decades, with many Floridians stuck in low-paying jobs and few opportunities to obtain quality jobs, according to the findings of a study released Monday, by the Florida International University.
Dubbed The State of Working Florida 2014, and just in time for Labor Day, the report found that wage gains for the top 25% were more than 3.5 times greater than the wage gains for the lowest 25% between 1980 and 2013.
According to the report, in 1980, the pay disparity between the wages of the top 25% and the lowest 25% was $47,992, but by 2013 the gap had grown to $74,607, an increase of 55.5%.
“This trend is troubling because wages directly shape the quality of life of most Floridians and a growing gap between high and low-wage earners means that Florida’s workers are living in increasingly separate worlds,” writes Ali Bustamante, the report’s author.
The report also found that Blacks, Hispanics, women and immigrants are paid significantly less than whites, males and native citizens.
Between 1980 and 2013, the wages of whites grew at an annual rate of 5% compared to 4% for Blacks and 3% for Latinos. In 2013, whites earned an annual median wage that was $10,000 higher than that of blacks or latinos.
“This means that the white population benefited more from the past three decades than Blacks or Latinos,” Bustamante writes. “This ultimately harms the social mobility of these economically marginalized groups and partly explains why not much demographic change has occurred in the top 25% while the bottom 25% has become increasingly more female and racially diverse.”
Bustamante suggests that inequality and social mobility issues can be addressed by increasing the minimum wage, wage theft protections and union representation, among others.
Other key findings of the study are:
- Since 1980, the wage disparity between the median wage of white and blacks grew by 79% while the wage disparity between whites and Latinos/Hispanics grew by 150%
- The lowest paying industries in Florida remained consistent, with the worst paying industries including private households services, food services, retail trade, agriculture, social services, among others
- The lowest paying industries historically paid a median annual wage below $30,000 and below $20,000 in the case of private households, food services and drinking places
- Between 1980 and 2013, whites averaged an unemployment rate of 4.8% compared to 10.6% for Blacks and 7.4% for Latinos
- In 2013, the poverty rate for Blacks was 27% compared to 9% for whites; for Latinos it was 22%.
Read the full report: The State of Working Florida 2014 HERE.
