The FINANCIAL — In 2013, the gender pay gap stood at 16.4% in the European Union (EU), ranging from less than 5% in Slovenia to more than 20% in Estonia, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany.
The gender pay gap represents the difference between average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees and of female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees. Differences between females and males in the labour market2 do not only concern wage discrepancies but also and along with it, the type of occupations3 held. Though representing 46% of employed persons, women were under-represented amongst managers, with only a third being female in 2013 in the EU. On the contrary, women were over-represented among clerical support workers as well as among service and sales workers, accounting for around two-thirds of employed persons in these occupations. The gap between men and women in the labour market was also significant as regards the type of employment held. In 2013, 1 employed woman out of 3 (31.8%) worked part-time, compared with fewer than 1 man out of 10 (8.1%).
Lowest gender pay gap in Slovenia, largest in Estonia
In 2013 in the EU Member States, the gender pay gap was less than 10% in Slovenia (3.2%), Malta (5.1%), Poland (6.4%), Italy (7.3%), Croatia (7.4%), Luxembourg (8.6%), Romania (9.1%) and Belgium (9.8%). At the opposite end of the scale, the gender pay gap was over 20% in Estonia (29.9%), Austria (23.0%), the Czech Republic (22.1%) and Germany (21.6%). Compared with 2008, the gender pay gap has dropped in 2013 in a majority of EU Member States. The most noticeable decreases between 2008 and 2013 were recorded in Lithuania (from 21.6% in 2008 to 13.3% in 2013, or -8.3 percentage points), Poland (-5.0 pp), the Czech Republic and Malta (both -4.1 pp) and Cyprus (-3.7 pp). In contrast, the gender pay gap has risen between 2008 and 2013 in nine Member States, with the most significant increases being observed in Portugal (from 9.2% in 2008 to 13.0% in 2013, or + 3.8 percentage points), Spain (+3.2 pp), Latvia (+2.6 pp), Italy (+2.4 pp) and Estonia (+2.3 pp). At EU level, the gender pay gap has decreased slightly, from 17.3% in 2008 to 16.4% in 2013.
Part-time employment tends to boost female employment rate
Among Member States in 2013, the largest disparities in employment rate between men and women were recorded in Malta (79.4% for men and 49.8% for women, or a difference of 29.6 percentage points), Italy (19.9 pp) and Greece (19.4 pp), and the smallest in Lithuania (2.6 pp), Finland (2.8 pp), Latvia (4.2 pp) and Sweden (5.0 pp). It should be noted that those Member States with the highest female employment rates are generally also those with a high share of employed women working part-time in 2013. Sweden, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria have all a female employment rate above 70% and a share of part-time employment among females well over 30%. The noticeable exceptions are Finland and Estonia, which combine a high female employment rate and a low share of part-time employment for women. It is worth mentioning that one of the key objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy6 is to increase employment in the EU. The target to be reached by 2020 is an employment rate of 75% among those aged 20 to 64. At EU level, the female employment rate stood at 62.6% in 2013 and almost a third (31.8%) of them were working part-time, while for men, the employment rate was 74.2% but less than 10% of them (8.1%) were in part-time employment.
Less than 20% of managers are women in Luxembourg and Cyprus
At EU level, a third (33%) of managers was female in 2013. Conversely, women accounted in 2013 for around two- thirds of all clerical support workers (67%) and of all services and sales workers (64%). In 2013 across the EU Member States, women were particularly under-represented among managers in Luxembourg (while accounting for 44% of employed persons, 16% of managers are women), Cyprus (48% vs. 19%), the Netherlands (47% vs. 25%) and Croatia (46% vs. 25%). In contrast, the share of female managers was more representative of the proportion of women in total employment in Hungary (the share of women was 46% among employed persons and 41% among managers), Latvia (51% and 44%) and Poland (45% and 38%). In every Member State, women were over-represented among clerical support workers in 2013, with Ireland (while accounting for 46% of employed persons, 80% of clerical workers are women) and the Czech Republic (43% vs. 79%) having the highest proportions of women in these occupations.
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