Black and brown individuals are underrepresented in high paying jobs — numerous factors contribute to this wage gap.

Many factors contribute to wage disparities, including geographical segregation and labor market segmentation, as well as different access to educational opportunities and to social and professional networks. In some instances, individual circumstances that lead people to select particular jobs or professions (e.g., family responsibilities, strong connections with their local communities, etc.) also become an element. In this report, we focus specifically on labor market segmentation and on the underrepresentation of women and Black workers in high-paying industries and jobs.

Our research reveals that after accounting for demographic, geographic, and educational differences, among workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher, Black men earned 18 percent less than White men in 2010. By 2019, that gap had grown to 24 percent, largely due to increased underrepresentation of Black workers in high-paying industries and occupations.

Among workers with at least a bachelor's degree, as of 2019, Black workers are still underrepresented in high-paying occupations and industries, such as the tech sector, and overrepresented in relatively low-paying industries and jobs, such as counselors and social workers. Black workers with a bachelor’s degree are also much more likely to work in jobs that do not require a college degree, such as drivers and security guards.

Compounding these trends, Black workers are especially underrepresented in occupations and industries that have experienced the highest growth in pay in recent years. The tech sector, for example, shows a remarkable increase in the number of top earners in the past decade. However, only 4 percent of top earners in this group are Black, compared to over 6 percent in other industries. Among top earners in software development, only 3.3 percent are Black.