1. The pension gender gap and structural barriers in the labour market
Labour Market Observatory (LMO) conference
"Solidarity between generations: a focus on ageing workers“
30/04/2019
Dr. Lina Salanauskaite

2. EU gender inequalities in earnings: EU risk of poverty rate –
Gender inequalities in pay generate pension gap and risk of poverty
The accumulated impact of gender inequalities generates a 38 % gender gap in pensions to the disadvantage of women at the EU level
Despite a smaller gender pay gap, gender overall earnings gap and gender pensions gap shows important gender inequalities in Slovenia.
Furthermore, elderly women poverty rate is double of that of men in Slovenia.
EU gender inequalities in earnings:
16.2% - gender pay gap
39.6% - gender overall earnings gap
38% - gender pension gap
EU risk of poverty rate –
60 years or over
Women – 16.7%
Men – 13.7%
75 years or over
Women – 19.2%
Men – 13.0%

3. Gender pay gap: not full reality of inequalities at work is reflected
Gender pay gap measures the difference in average gross hourly wage between men and women. It is now at 16.2 % to the detriment of women.
The gender pay gap offers important but limited information about the income inequalities present in the labour market.
The gender gap in overall earnings, which is at around 40 % in the EU-28, gives a more comprehensive picture as it takes not only the pay difference between women and men, but the number of hours worked & paid and the employment rate of both women and men. Eg. We noted gender gaps in extra payment for additional hours of work and overtime, Sunday or payments based on the overall performance of a company
Measures: - average hourly earnings
- monthly average of the number of paid hours
- employment rates of men and women
Measures the difference in gross hourly wage
between women and men

4. Gender gap in overall earnings: a close link to gender pension gap

5. Large gender gaps as regards employment intensity
Full time equivalent employment, 2017:
Source: Gender Equality Index 2019, forthcoming

6. Gender gaps in FTE are particulalry large in older ages
Full time equivalent employment, 2017:

7. Couples with children under 7: highest gender gap in net earnings
Net monthly earnings, EU-28 (2015):
Gender gap grows with family responsibilities
Across different life stages, gender gaps in net monthly earnings are highest for women with children, and in particular - with younger children
While the total gender gap in net monthly earnings in the EU stands at 31 %, for couples with children under the age of seven it reaches 48 % - the highest level observed across the life stages examined.
At this life stage we notice an increase in men’s earnings. The family formation implies an earnings’ “penalty” for mothers and a “reward” for father
Among couples whose youngest child is over seven years of age, the gender gap begins to reduce, but remains considerably higher compared to women in partnerships without children or in comparison to other life stages.
In single parent families, with children of different ages, gender gap in net monthly earnings is at about 20%.
Source: EIGE calculations on the basis of EWCS (2015) data

8. Gender pay gap increases with age across all Member States
In some EU countries, e.g. Luxembourg, Croatia, the Netherlands – young women still have a small pay advantage when entering the labour market. Nonetheless, in no EU country such advantage remains throughout the life-course… by age 40-49, the gender pay gap ranges from less than 10% in Belgium to more than 30% in Czechia and Estonia.
Source: Eurostat

9. Gender pay gap enlarges substantially along the career path
Gender pay gap in the EU (2014), by age groups, pay quintiles and educational attainment:
Reference: EIGE. (2019, forthcoming). Tackling the gender pay gap: not without a better work-life balance.

10. Gender gaps in pay are particularly large in certain occupations, such as health professionals
Gender gaps in net earnings are particularly large among those in more qualified/better paid jobs
Reference: EIGE. (2018). Women and men in ICT: a chance for better work-life balance. Retrieved from

11. Working in an occupation matching educational qualification
Reference: EIGE. (2018). Study and work in the EU: Set apart by gender. Retrieved from

12. Gender pay gap is particularly large in certain sectors
Some of the sectors like finance and insurance or manufacturing (highest , right) show large gender pay gaps due to vertical segregation.
The gender pay gap is notably large (>30%) among elderly people working in trade, manufacturing, financial or scientific sectors compared to younger workers.
The reverse trend can also be noted in certain areas of economic activity, such as entertainment and the arts (third form right) where the gender pay gap among the young is much higher than among older workers.
Arts, entertainment and recreation
Manufacturing
Professional, scientific and technical activities
Financial and insurance activities
NACE codes: B) mining and quarrying; C) manufacturing; D) electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; E) water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities; F) construction; G) wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; H) transportation and storage; I) accommodation and food service activities; J) information and communication; K) financial and insurance activities; L) real estate activities; M) professional, scientific and technical activities; N) administrative and support service activities; O) public administration and defence, compulsory social security; P) education; Q) human health and social work activities; R) arts, entertainment and recreation.

13. Gender pension gap and structural barriers in labour market:
take-away messages
1/ Gender inequalities in pay: the gender pay gap alone does not show the full reality of inequalities at work; Gender gap in overall earnings is an option and also reflects on gender inequalities in pensions.
2/ Gender norms and stereotypes underpin gender inequalities in pay. Social protection systems do not correction mechanisms for smoothing gender inequalities in labour market.
3/ Work-life balance measures can increase women’s employment and reduce the gender pay gap, but only if men use them too.

14. European Institute for Gender Equality
eige.europa.eu twitter.com/eurogender facebook.com/eige.europa.eu youtube.com/user/eurogender eige.europa.eu/newsletter eurogender.eige.europa.eu