White Senate Staff Members Paid More Than Minorities

Senate staff members from racial minorities are paid less than their white counterparts, according to a congressional study released Sunday.

The average pay for black staff members dropped in 1997. A report by the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonpartisan group funded by corporations, found that black Senate employees earned 76 cents for every dollar earned by their white counterparts. In 1993, they made 83 cents per dollar.

The average pay for Hispanic staff workers increased this year but still is considerably lower than white staff members’ pay. Hispanics earned 85 cents for every dollar whites earned in 1997; they earned 75 cents per dollar in 1993.

Asians and Native Americans, who were grouped collectively in the report, made up less than 2.8 percent of minority staff members working in the Senate. They made 93 cents for every dollar earned by white workers.

The study attributed the pay disparity to an over-representation of minorities in lower-paying jobs and an underrepresentation in positions that pay more. Members of ethnic minorities make up 13.6 percent of Senate staff members, but they hold only 4.6 percent of the five top-paying positions in senators’ personal offices.