Yesterday was Equal Pay Day, the day women’s earnings finally catch up with men’s earnings for the previous year. After engaging in an argument with a friend over the merits of the equal pay argument — he maintained women had less market value in the workplace than men (due to traditionally having less education, working less hours, etc.) — I drew up a quick chart showing the history of men’s and women’s annual salaries over time, with a line added in representing the number of women obtaining Bachelor’s degrees.

The numbers are imperfect; they don’t control for occupation, industry, race, etc., but it shows how women’s skills are increasing at a disproportionate rate to their salaries. (Once you control for factors like education and experience, the wage gap gets slightly smaller, but persists.) Click to view full size:

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