Campaign for equal pay for women and men in Berlin (2016)
Photo: Wolfgang Kumm / dpa
The gap between men and women in terms of wages and salaries has narrowed somewhat in the past year.
As reported by the Federal Statistical Office, women earned an average of 18 percent less than men in 2020.
The difference in earnings - the so-called gender pay gap - was one percentage point lower than in 2019. At the same time, the statisticians emphasized that special effects as a result of short-time work in the corona crisis could have played a role.
The gender pay gap is the difference between the average gross hourly earnings.
Unadjusted, it generally compares the average earnings of all employees.
However, a large part of the pay gap has less to do with direct wage discrimination, but stems from the fact that women are more likely to work in lower-paid industries and jobs and less often in management positions.
The adjusted pay gap is six percent
If women and men with comparable qualifications and jobs are compared, the wage difference is lower.
This adjusted gender pay gap is collected every four years.
In 2018, as in 2014, it remained at six percent;
in 2010 the difference was seven percent and in 2006 eight percent.
As the Federal Office announced on Tuesday on the occasion of the International Day for Equal Pay for Women and Men (Equal Pay Day) on March 10, women earned an average of EUR 18.62 gross per hour in 2020, less than EUR 4.16 Men (22.78 euros).
In 2019, the difference was 4.28 euros.
As before, the unadjusted gender pay gap in eastern Germany, at six percent, is much smaller than in western Germany (20 percent).
The impact of the pandemic is unclear
According to the Federal Office, the reason for the slightly lower gender pay gap in 2020 was that the gross hourly earnings of women rose by 3.5 percent compared to 2019, more than that of men (plus 2.3 percent).
"The earnings situation of women and men has thus converged," explained the statisticians.
However, short-time work in the corona crisis could have strengthened this development or counteracted it: If, for example, men in a higher-paid salary group go on short-time work, the gender pay gap would decrease because the average gross hourly earnings of men are comparatively lower, explained the Federal Office.
A similar effect on the gender pay gap would therefore be achieved if women in lower-paid wage groups went on short-time work.
Statistically speaking, women's gross hourly earnings then increase.
However, according to the Federal Office, it cannot be deduced from the available data how great the impact of the increased short-time work is in the pandemic.
Short-time working allowance cushions the individual loss of income “to a large extent, but it does not count towards gross earnings and is therefore not included in the calculation of the gender pay gap”.
Icon: The mirror
beb / dpa
