Despite having the highest statewide minimum wage in the nation, wages of the top 10% of Washington state households was 12.6 times that of the bottom 10% in 2021, according to a report from the state Employment Security Department. That’s a yawning gap compared to 1990, when the gap stood at 7.7 times.
In dollars, the 2021 gap averages more than $350,000 annually between the wages of the highest and lowest paid workers in the state.
The gulf in pay equity is even wider for women, as well as Black, Hispanic and Indigenous workers, in part because the tech industry, dominated by white and Asian workers, accounts for such a large portion of Washington’s economy.
