April 11 marks the first day of the year that women are no longer catching up with men in terms of paychecks.
Yesterday was equal pay day, marking how long it took for the average woman to earn as much as the average man did in 2017.
In Michigan, women earn about 78 cents for every dollar a man earns. That means women, on average earn more than eleven thousand dollars less than men annually.
Sarah Fleisch-Fink is the director of workplace policy and senior council at the National Partnership for Women and Families. She said the 78 cent difference is only an average.
“For example black women and latinas face far worse gender pay gaps than women on average, so black women earn just 63 cents on the dollar and latinas just 54 cents, so those equal pay days fall even further into the year.”
Fleisch-Fink said the money Michigan women lose every year adds up to more than 24 billion dollars, which could go towards schooling, rent, or child care.
She said the Partnership is urging Congress to pass a number of measures to better protect women from unfair wage practices.
More information about the wage gap is here.