Women now earn more than men in Luxembourg?
According to the latest data from Eurostat, Luxembourgish women started making more money than men: they have been making 0.2% more money. This is not the greatest figure, and it only includes calculations based on European Union-approved standards.
However, in this matter Luxembourg has become a pioneer: in other countries where the study was conducted, the gap in income is still very tangible. For example, according to the statistics, in neighboring Belgium, the wage gap between men and women is around 5%, in France — 15.4%, and in Germany — as much as 17.6%. The biggest disproportion found in the labor market of Estonia — is a gap of 20.5%.
Luxembourg, too, did not achieve these figures right away. Back in 2006, the income difference between women and men was 10.7% to the advantage of the latter. In eight years, around 2014 it dropped to 5.4%. And in 2022 calculations, Eurostat has demonstrated an advantage on the female side, but does it make it true?
In 2022, only 47% of women were engaged in the labor market. At the same time, the figure for men usually exceeds 72%. To put it simply, this means that for every unemployed man, there are two unemployed women. The availability of jobs, meaning its shortage, makes women more likely to accept low-paying positions, or agree to worse social security.
Unfortunately, it is a still long way to employment equality. One important detail, that makes the results seem not so bright, but makes it more honest: the survey only examined the hourly wages. In annual terms, the data can vary greatly, and it does.
Moreover, women are more likely to be employed part-time than men, and the proportion of men in higher-paying professions is higher. In Luxembourg only 21.7% of all directors and managers are women. While in France, for example, 45.6% of all the key decision-makers in companies are female. Thus, in the long run, men still earn more.
A new directive by European Commission, called Gender Quota will be finally presented by 2026, after 10 years of negotiations. This regulation will require companies to establish transparent, gender-neutral, and qualification-based criteria for appointing directors, as well as give preference to the underrepresented gender in case of a tie.
