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RACE PAY GAP: Black men and women are among the lowest earners in the US tech industry, according to new research

BLACK WOMEN continue be paid the least in the tech sector, a new report has revealed.

In its third yearly report looking at race and salary in the tech industry in the US, Hired, a marketplace that matches tech talent with companies, has found that black women and men are paid considerably less than their peers.

For every dollar that white men earn, black men earn 91 cents, putting them on par with Hispanic women, while black women earn just 89 cents.

For black men, the figures reflect a worsening pay gap, slipping from 94 cents in 2018. Researched shows they receive salary offers a couple hundred dollars more than Hispanic women.

The report was based on analysis of real data gathered from salary offers made on the Hired platform and a survey of more than 2,600 tech workers.

Hired’s research revealed that one in five women felt that they were discriminated against in the workplace on the grounds of their race.

And while 64 per cent of female survey participants said they believe a racial pay gap exists, just over half, 54 per cent, of men believe one does.

The research shows that LGBTQ+ men and women also earn less than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. For every dollar that a heterosexual man earns, an LGBTQ+ man earns 96 cents. Between heterosexual women and LGBTQ+ women the gap is smaller, they earn 93 cents and 92 cents, respectively, per every dollar a non-LGBTQ+ man does. However, the statistics are not reflective of progress as they represent a decrease for LGBTQ+ women from 2018.

Slight improvements have been made in the sector overall, with the gender pay gap decreasing from four per cent in 2018 to three per cent in 2019.

“There’s still a lot of work to be done — women are still experiencing discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, and age, which negatively impacts salary offers — but the numbers show we might be headed in the right direction,” the authors of the report said.

While there is not one conclusive answer to the reason for the gender pay gap in the sector, researchers believe that the difference in the salary amount women request when compared to men could point to a major factor.

Sixty-one per cent of the time women request lower salaries than men do, asking for 4 per cent less than men on average, Hired found.

“The usual suspects - namely experience, occupation, and location - play a minor role in explaining the pay gap. But the data points toward a bigger culprit: Expectations. Women are being offered less because they are asking for less. Once we account for a candidates’ asking salary, the wage gap essentially disappears,” Nina Roussille of UC Berkeley’s Opportunity Lab, who is conducting independent research on the pay gap using Hired's marketplace data.

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