Wall Street has the worst gender-pay imbalance in America

Financial service industry professions are the worst in America when it comes to paying its female employees as much as its males ones, according to new Census data.

Among all occupations, securities and commodities brokers, 30 percent of whom are women, have the widest gender-pay gap, at 54.7 percent.

This is closely followed by other financial specialists, who earn 60 cents on the male dollar. Women comprise more than half of all employees in this profession.

Personal financial advisors are barely better: women in this profession are paid 62 cents on the dollar. Thirty-one percent of women in this category are female.

The average male earnings figure for the finance positions above is $88,645, while for females it’s $53,910.

A representative for the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association could not be reached for comment. A representative for the New York Stock Exchange declined to comment.

Most major Wall Street firms have seen gender discrimination lawsuits in the past decade. The largest came in 2004, when Morgan Stanley settled a federal lawsuit brought by employees for $54 million.

In the most recent suit, two former Goldman Sachs employees are seeking class-action status for their claim that the firm discriminated against them in compensation, work assignments, and advancement, according to Bloomberg’s Sheelah Kolhatkar. Goldman has denied the charges, she reports. This week, a judge issued a preliminary ruling against their motion for class action, though he called it a “close case” and the decision now gets reviewed by a federal judge, according to Reuters.

As for the best profession for women, in terms of both percent of equality and and overall pay, there is no specific industry that dominates. Of occupations where women earn at least $100,000, female architectural and engineering managers get closest to their male counterparts, at $113,507, which is 93 percent of male earnings. Female actuaries earn 92 percent of what their male counterparts make, at $106,759. Female dentists make $102,460, but this is a third of what male dentists make.

You can see the full results in the interactive Silk chart below:

Rob covers business, economics and the environment for Fusion. He previously worked at Business Insider. He grew up in Chicago.