Like wages for Pennsylvania workers generally, wages of Black and Hispanic workers in Pennsylvania are rising. Figure 1 shows the inflation-adjusted median wage (2023 dollars) for Pennsylvania’s Black and Hispanic workers since 2015, a recent low. From 2015 to 2023, Hispanic workers earned a $3.83 per hour increase, and Black workers a $3.12 per hour increase.
Figure 1
A racial wage gap persists despite these gains, although that gap has closed slightly in recent years. Wages for Black and Hispanic Pennsylvania workers ticked up to 80% and 79% of White wages in 2023, up from 76% and 74% in 2022, respectively. Figure 2 shows a longer-term comparison of Black and Hispanic wages in Pennsylvania compared to White workers. For Black workers, wages plunged relative to Whites after the mid-1990s. From 90%-97% of White workers’ wages in 1979-1995, Pennsylvania Black workers’ wages fell to a low of 72% of White hourly earnings in 2018. Hispanic workers’ earnings—only available since 2001 because of small sample sizes—dropped to a low of 71% of White wages in 2014 before climbing back now to the 2023 figure of 79%.
Figure 2
(Figure 2 shows a three-year average of Black and Hispanic earnings as a percent of White earnings. Since 2023 is not shown by itself, the most recent percent in the figure is below the 80% and 79% for 2023 alone).
Keystone Research Center released its annual report on the economy “State of Working Pennsylvania 2024” on August 27th. This is the seventh of a series of blogs focused on smaller, more digestible, pieces of our report. To access the full report, including full references for this specific blog, and other “State of Working Pennsylvania” resources, please visit our 2024 State of Working Pennsylvania Resource page here.