Latinas hurt most by wage gap, costing them over $20,000 a year

Five extra months of rent, nine months of child care and nearly four months of health insurance.

That's what women in the United States could afford if their salaries were the same as men's.

The salary gap is still pummeling working women, and particularly those who are heads of family like many Hispanics, according to the latest report by the National Partnership for Women & Families (NPWF).

The report, based on U.S. Census data, calculated the differences in average salaries among men and women who work full time in each of the 50 states.

In Florida, women earn 87 cents for each dollar earned by a man, a difference of $5,515 per year. But for a Latina woman in Florida, the picture is worse. A Hispanic woman earns only 60 cents for each dollar earned by a white non-Hispanic male, a gap of $20,380 per year, on average, in the state.

"If that salary gap is eliminated, Latinas in Florida could pay for 34 additional months of child care or more than 14 months of a health insurance offered by employers," Jessica Mason, a senior analyst with the NPWF, told el Nuevo Herald.

Mason said the gap is the result of factors such as racial and gender discrimination, workplace harassment, job segregation and a lack of workplace policies that support family caregiving.

At the national level, Latin women earn 53 cents for every dollar earned by a white non-Hispanic male; American Indian women earn 58 cents; black women earn 61 cents; white non-Hispanic women earn 77 cents; and Asian women earn 85 cents.

In dollar numbers, a Latina woman earns an average of $32,002 per year compared with the $60,388 average annual income of a white non-Hispanic male — a difference of $28,386.

The salary gap also affects career Latinas. The average salary of a Latina executive is $71,362, $61,781 for a computer specialist.

The average non-Hispanic white male in those jobs earns more than $100,000 per year.

The states with the biggest salary gaps were Louisiana, Utah, Indiana and Alabama. The gap was particularly damaging to the mothers of children under 18 who are the main wage earners. They earn 71 cents for every dollar earned by the fathers.

NPWF President Debra L. Ness said that salary inequality is not the result of any single cause and therefore has no easy solution. She added that the Paycheck Fairness Act, recently passed by the U.S. House to combat salary discrimination, was "encouraging."