10 Worst Occupations for Equal Pay

Claire Gordon
Updated

Last Tuesday was Equal Pay Day: a time when Americans acknowledge that the wage gap hasn't really budged for two decades, get depressed, come up with brilliant theories about why, get inspired, and then move on with the rest of the year -- another year adding up to a lifetime when the average college-educated woman will earn a total $1.2 million less than the average college-educated man, according to economist Evelyn Murphy, president of The Wage Project.

There are lots of curious, and depressing, facts about the pay gap:

  • It gets worse as you get older.

  • It's mostly non-existent if you never get married.

  • It's particularly bad for Asian women.

  • It's particularly, particularly wide in the financial industry.

  • And it's particularly, particularly, particularly bad when it comes to bonuses.



But for women who really want to get into a career where the guy at the next cubicle doesn't earn $20,000 a year more than they, one piece of advice: Don't work for commission.

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