Hourly wage gaps for domestic workers, by occupation and demographic group, 2021
| Domestic worker occupations | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home care aides | |||||
| Domestic workers | House cleaners | Nannies | Non-agency-based | Agency-based | |
| All | -25.2%**** | -21.2%**** | -18.9%**** | -31.3%**** | -25.6%**** |
| Gender | |||||
| Female | -24.9%**** | -19.7%**** | -20.5%*** | -29.5%**** | -25.2%**** |
| Male | -36.5%**** | -43.5%**** | NA | -40.0%**** | -34.9%**** |
| Nativity | |||||
| U.S.-born | -26.3%**** | -27.2%**** | -15.1%**** | -30.1%**** | -27.2%**** |
| Foreign-born U.S. citizen | -25.0%**** | -19.7%**** | -20.8%**** | -22.9%**** | -25.5%**** |
| Foreign-born noncitizen | -18.8%**** | -13.7%**** | -37.0%**** | -46.2%**** | -13.5%**** |
| Race/ethnicity | |||||
| White, non-Hispanic | -29.4%**** | -29.0%**** | -15.7%**** | -32.2%**** | -32.5%**** |
| Black, non-Hispanic | -22.2%**** | -20.9%** | -17.8%*** | -33.8%**** | -20.8%**** |
| Hispanic, any race | -21.8%**** | -17.0%**** | -21.7%**** | -23.3%**** | -23.2%**** |
| Asian American/Pacific Islander | -33.0%**** | NA | NA | -38.6%**** | -30.1%**** |
| Other | -25.0%**** | NA | NA | NA | -27.9%**** |
| Education | |||||
| Not high school graduate | -10.3%**** | -13.3%**** | -11.3%** | -14.2%** | -7.1%**** |
| High school graduate | -17.5%**** | -17.2%**** | -2.9% | -25.8%**** | -17.9%**** |
| Some college | -25.8%**** | -23.0%**** | -16.5%**** | -26.0%**** | -27.2%**** |
| Bachelor’s degree or more | -59.2%**** | -61.7%**** | -49.3%**** | -62.4%**** | -60.3%**** |
| Age | |||||
| Younger than 23 | -8.1%**** | NA | -9.7%**** | NA | -4.6%*** |
| 23–49 | -24.1%**** | -22.0%**** | -25.7%**** | -34.3%**** | -22.7%**** |
| 50+ | -28.9%**** | -17.1%**** | -24.3%**** | -30.5%**** | -30.4%**** |
Notes: All wage gaps are significantly different from zero at the 0.01 level. Four asterisks (***) indicate significance at the 1 percent level, three indicate significance at the 5 percent level, and two indicates significance at the 10 percent level. The regressions control for gender, nativity, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, age, marital status, and census geographical division. To ensure sufficient sample sizes, this table draws from pooled 2019–2021 microdata. Since the best wage measure in the Current Population Survey is unavailable for self-employed workers, wages of workers who provide child care in their own homes are not included. “Foreign-born” refers to anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth. NA signifies that sample size was too small for the regression.
All wage gaps are significantly different from zero at the 0.01 level. The regressions control for gender, nativity, race/ethnicity, educational attainment, age, marital status, and census geographical division. To ensure sufficient sample sizes, this figure draws from pooled 2019–2021 microdata. Since the best wage measure in the Current Population Survey is unavailable for self-employed workers, wages of workers who provide child care in their own homes are not included. To ensure sufficient sample sizes, this table draws from pooled 2019–2021 microdata. “Foreign-born” refers to anyone who is not a U.S. citizen at birth. “Foreign-born noncitizen” includes foreign-born persons who are either lawful permanent residents, in a nonimmigrant status (migrants with temporary visas), or lacking an immigration status, including both unauthorized immigrants and those with lawful presence (such as DACA recipients and asylum applicants whose cases are in process).
Source: Economic Policy Institute (EPI) analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata, EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.32 (2022), https://microdata.epi.org.