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http://stats.bls.gov/cps/cpswom2003.pdf

Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2003
U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
September 2004

Median weekly earnings for women who were fulltime
wage and salary workers were $552 in 2003.

This amount equaled 80 percent of men’s $695
weekly median, up from 78 percent in 2002. In 1979, the first year of comparable earnings data, women earned 63 percent as much as men. (See chart 1.)

The women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio varied significantly
by demographic group.

The ratio was about 88 percent for
both blacks and Hispanics or Latinos in 2003;

for whites it was 79 percent; and for Asians it was 78 percent.

Young women (16 to 24 years old) earned almost as much as young men, while women aged 35 years and older earned about
three-fourths as much as their male peers.

. . .

Between 1979 and 2003, the earnings gap between
women and men narrowed for most major age groups. The
women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio among 35- to 44-year-olds,
for example, was 76 percent in 2003 compared with 58 percent

in 1979, and that for 45- to 54-year-olds was 73 percent in
2003 compared with 57 percent in 1979. The earnings ratios
for teenagers and for workers aged 65 and older, however,
showed no consistent movement over the period. (See table
12.)

Median weekly earnings for women who were fulltime
wage and salary workers were $552 in 2003.
This amount equaled 80 percent of men’s $695
weekly median, up from 78 percent in 2002. In 1979, the first year of comparable earnings data, women earned 63 percent as much as men. (See chart 1.)

The women’s-to-men’s earnings ratio varied significantly
by demographic group. The ratio was about 88 percent for
both blacks and Hispanics or Latinos in 2003; for whites it
was 79 percent; and for Asians it was 78 percent. Young
women (16 to 24 years old) earned almost as much as young
men, while women aged 35 years and older earned about
three-fourths as much as their male peers.