Is the gender pay gap really just a function of different job biographies? No, says a Stepstone evaluation. The salary gap is already visible in many industries when you start your career.
Women in Germany earn less than men; this fact is undisputed. However, exactly how the gender pay gap comes about is much less clear. Experts attribute a large part of the salary difference to factors such as career choice and employment history. But even if you factor that out, differences still remain.
A current evaluation by the job platform Stepstone shows how big the salary differences are between men and women in individual professional groups right from the start. According to the analysis, female job starters earn an average of 4.8 percent less than their male colleagues in their first three years of work. The value is the adjusted gender pay gap, from which structural differences – such as qualifications, activities, scope of work, industry – are already taken out. The unadjusted wage gap for women starting their careers is as high as 6.9 percent.
After factoring out differences in qualifications etc., it becomes clear that there is an (adjusted) gender pay gap in all occupational groups considered. However, this turns out to be very different. The salary gap is greatest in the skilled trades at 7.9 percent. But women starting their careers also earn 7 percent less than men in wholesale and retail as well as distribution and sales. The gap is 6.6 percent in consulting, 5.3 percent in engineering and 4.7 percent in finance and insurance professions. In other areas the difference is smaller; in human resources, young men and women are practically equal (see table).
The data comes from the Stepstone salary report, for which more than 900,000 compensation data from 2021 to 2023 were evaluated.
Table: Salary gap between young professionals*
| professional group | Gender Pay Gap |
| Banking, finance, insurance | 4.7% |
| Advice | 6.6% |
| Gastronomy & Hotel Industry | 2.6% |
| Health and social services (including doctors) | 2.7% |
| Wholesale and retail | 7% |
| Crafts | 7.9% |
| engineering | 5.3% |
| I.T | 3.6% |
| logistics | 5% |
| Marketing & PR | 2.6% |
| staff | 0.3% |
| Sales sale | 7% |
| All | 4.8% |
*less than three years of professional experience, adjusted for structural differences; Source: Stepstone
The gender pay gap increases over the course of your working life
The Federal Statistical Office also regularly calculates the gender pay gap in Germany. The unadjusted gender pay gap simply compares the average hourly wages of men and women. In 2023, women will earn an average of 18 percent less per hour than men – regardless of what and how long they have been working. The value has remained unchanged for four years.
The statisticians explain a significant part of the salary gap through so-called structural factors – for example, the fact that women work more often in sectors and professions that are generally paid less. With comparable qualifications, activities and employment histories, women still earn 6 percent less than men, which is the adjusted gender pay gap.
This actual pay gap cannot be directly equated with discrimination by bosses who fob off women with lower salaries. The official statisticians point to other “wage-relevant influencing factors” about which no information is available, “such as information on interruptions in employment due to pregnancy, the birth of children or the care of relatives”. It is obvious that such points play a role, because the data shows that the earnings gap continues to widen over the course of one’s working life.
However, the Stepstone evaluation makes it clear that gender-specific differences already exist at the start of the career. “It is an untenable situation that we still have salary differences based on gender in the 21st century,” says labor market expert Tobias Zimmermann from Stepstone. He demands that employers be more transparent about salaries during the application process.
Source: Stern
