As of: January 19, 2024, 9:59 a.m
By: Ulrike Hagen
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Women earn around a fifth less than men.
With a gender pay gap of 18 percent, Germany is one of Europe's worst performers.
What are the causes?
Wiesbaden – Women in Germany still earn significantly less than men.
According to a statement from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Thursday (January 18), the gender pay gap will be almost a fifth in 2023, as in the previous year - namely an average of 18 percent.
The Federal Republic therefore remains one of the EU's bottom performers.
Only in Estonia (21 percent) and Austria (19 percent) do things look even bleaker for women.
The value has remained unchanged since 2020.
But what are the reasons why the wage gap remains huge - despite all the federal government's promises to overcome the gender pay gap in Germany and the Pay Transparency Act?
Women earn a fifth less than men, according to the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office.
With a gender pay gap of 18 percent, Germany is one of Europe's worst performers.
© Imago/Steinach
Gender gap: The wage gap between men and women will remain unchanged at 18 percent in 2023
The Federal Office Destatis explains that a large part of the earnings gap, namely 64 percent, is due to the fact that women work more often than men “in sectors, professions and skill levels where the pay is lower.”
In addition, women are more likely to be employed part-time or in part-time jobs than men, “which is also associated with lower average gross hourly earnings,” according to the statement.
“Women are less likely to apply for well-paid jobs that require high levels of flexibility from employers than men,” adds Professor Christian Merkl from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in an interview with
fr.de
from IPPEN.MEDIA.
Merkl is the author of a research paper on the subject, which found that for positions that require a high level of professional mobility and flexibility, the proportion of women among applicants is only 36 percent.
“What we were also able to observe: If a woman with a child is hired for such a job, she earns up to 25 percent less than a man in a comparable position with the same profile.”
Gender Pay Gap 2023: Women earn a fifth less per hour than men
The statistical figures speak for themselves: gross hourly earnings for women are on average 20.84 euros compared to 25.30 euros for men, which is 18 percent less.
A real indictment: According to the EU Commission, the gender pay gap in the EU currently stands at an average of 12.7 percent.
Of the other countries, only Estonia and Austria have even more backward values than Germany.
In Luxembourg, women and men earned the same amount for the first time in 2021;
The EU countries with the smallest differences in gross hourly earnings are Romania and Slovenia, with four percent each.
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“These disappointing figures clearly show that we are still a long way from equal pay between men and women!” explains the spokeswoman for the German Social Association, Jutta König, to
fr.de
, “Women work more often in sectors where the pay is lower and in which they are less likely to reach leadership positions.
And they work part-time and mini-jobs more often than men and therefore earn less.”
Gender Pay Gap 2023: Women earn 18 percent less per hour than men - Germany remains one of the EU's bottom performers.
© Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) |
2024
Gender Pay Gap: Things go downhill for German women from the age of 30 onwards - the pay gap is constantly increasing
On average, German women are 30 years old when they give birth to their first child.
From this point on, according to statistics, their earnings stagnate - while for men it increases continuously as they get older.
“On average, women take on more care work than men,” says Merkl.
That is why mothers have the greatest loss of earnings compared to men and women without children.
The unadjusted gender pay gap for 30-year-olds is still eight percent and then increases rapidly.
For employees between the ages of 57 and 61, it is an alarming 27 percent - certainly one reason why women are much more likely to be at risk of poverty in old age.
On average, women earn 18 percent less than men - in East Germany only six percent
Striking: The unadjusted gender pay gap in East Germany, at seven percent, is significantly smaller than in West Germany, where it will be 19 percent in 2023.
In 2006 it was six percent in the east and 24 percent in the west.
“Two reasons probably play an important role here,” says economic researcher Merkl.
“One thing is certain: the availability of child care is much larger in the East, which means that women who want to return to work quickly also have the opportunity to do so.”
In addition, the labor market structures are different.
“Many of the male-dominated, high-paying flexibility jobs don’t even exist there.”
The gender pay gap among older people rises to a dramatic 27 percent
Jutta König: “Unfortunately it also shows that the Pay Transparency Act did not have the desired effect.”
It is still the case that the right to information about what colleagues earn only applies to companies with 200 or more employees.
The law failed to achieve its goal, namely the enforcement of equal pay for equal work of equal value for women and men.
“We are now relying on the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which must be implemented into national law by 2026 and finally means tightening.”