RACIAL PAY DISPARTY WORSENS AT FORBES, NEW UNION STUDY SHOWS

NEW YORK – Unionized journalists of color at Forbes magazine continue to be paid significantly less – and stay on staff for significantly shorter periods of time –  than their white counterparts, according to a new study by Forbes Union and The NewsGuild of New York. 

In its third year analyzing newsroom worker data, the Forbes Union’s pay equity study looked at the earnings of 80 unionized editorial employees at the business publication. As of September 2025, there are 80 employees covered by the Forbes Union, including 79 full-time staffers who are paid an annual salary. 

Among the takeaways:

• Shrinking staff: The unit has fallen to 80 members as of September 2025, down more than 25% from 108 members in August 2023 and still well below the 93 members in 2021. (As of the Nov. 1, 2025 census, which the union received after completing this study, there are now 84 members.)
• Turnover has worsened inequities: Of the 30 longest-tenured members, 29 identify as white. Only one is a person of color. Two people of color were promoted into management, but nearly 15 people of color left in the past four years alone. 
• Racial disparities worsen: White employees average $95,089, compared with $87,500 for Asian, $74,557 for Hispanic or Latino, and $71,438 for Black employees. Racial pay gaps have increased in every category since 2023.
• Persistent gender gap: Women earn $7,754 less on average than men (a slight improvement from the $11,280 gap that existed in 2023) and have a median salary that’s $4,480 lower.
• Stagnant pay: Median salary has stayed flat at $80,000 since 2023, and the average salary has declined slightly, from $91,129 to $90,382.
• Erosion of real wages: When adjusted for inflation, 55.9% of members saw their pay decrease since 2023. The median raise has been only $3,250 (about 2% on an annualized basis).
• Raises are uneven: About one-third of employees who were in the unit in 2023 haven’t received a single raise in over two years.

“With the same diligence we use to track the wealth of the world’s most influential people, we analyzed pay and staffing data provided by Forbes management over the past four years,” said Andrea Murphy, unit chair for Forbes Union and a statistics editor for the magazine. “The results show a newsroom that has grown smaller, less diverse, and no less inequitable under the leadership of CEO Sherry Phillips and Chief Content Officer Randall Lane.” 

As Forbes management continues to stall negotiations and refuses to agree to basic worker protections, including creating a culture of equity in the workplace, the makeup of the Forbes newsroom has become increasingly more white.

According to the census data:

• 55% are women, compared to women making up 47% of the unit in March 2023.
• 64% are white, compared to 63% of the unit being white in March 2023.
• White men make up the single largest group at 35% of the total.
• 7.5% identifies as Hispanic or Latino, 6% as Black or African American, 6% as Asian, and 5% as two or more races (not Hispanic or Latino)
• At least 90 unit employees have left Forbes since the union won its ratification vote in July 2021. That is about 40 more than our last pay study conducted in March 2023. About 60% of those departed employees were women. Further, the 20 staff members who have been at Forbes the longest–for six years or more–are all white.

The Forbes Union organized with The NewsGuild of New York in 2021. For more than three years workers have been fighting for a first contract, only to be met with union-busting tactics by Forbes management. 

“What this latest study shows is that Forbes is continuing to allow pay inequities to persist in its own workplace while it holds glitzy public events praising the achievements of women and BIPOC entrepreneurs of all ages,” Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “Forbes management needs to stop being two-faced on this important issue and finally agree to a fair contract that rectifies these disparities.”