Equal Pay Day: Questions and answers about the wage gap

The European Commission’s sad result: In the entire Union, women earn an average of almost 13 percent less than men. For one euro a man earns, a woman receives about 87 cents. The EU wants to put this misery into public awareness, which is why there is the “Equal Pay Day” in the EU. In Germany he falls on March 7 this year. The date corresponds to the day, of which women have to work in terms of mathematical terms in order to get the same wage level as men. In April, the EU member states passed a guideline to close the gender Pay GAP. Several states still have to implement the regulation into national law.

In Germany, several women have sued the differences in income. Here women earn an average of 16 percent less than their male colleagues. The value is calculated annually by the Federal Statistical Office and has dropped in recent years.

Most of the complaining women were handled in court with sayings – only one received right, was paid out by the employer at 14,500 euros and also received compensation for the violation of the rights. In February, a judge in Erfurt made a fundamental judgment. Negotiation skills no longer count as an argument if a man earns more than his colleague.

It is now easier for women to demand what they are entitled to: an equal payment. The traffic light government wanted to further reduce the gap by 2030, to 10 percent. Was that realistic? And why do women earn less than men? The most important questions and answers about the gender pay gap:

The gender Pay GAP describes the difference in earning between women and men per hour. In Germany, the value has been calculated since 1995. A distinction is made between the adjusted and unavoidable gender pay gap. Depending on which factors are taken into account in the calculation, the wage difference is higher or lower. The fact that the work of women and men is rewarded differently is not only related to discrimination, but also have structural reasons. The International Labor Organization names training, qualifications and working hours.

At the Uninemified gender pay gap will compare the gross containers of men and women as a whole. “This means that merits from board members, geriatric nurse and secretaries are equally incorporated here,” explains Leonie Schröder, research assistant in the area of ​​earnings statistics at the Federal Statistical Office. (Age) part-time, marginally employed and trainees are also taken into account. The uninhibited gender pay gap is currently 16 percent and shows the average difference in earning between sexes regardless of characteristics such as position or qualifications.

The Adjusted gender pay gap is more methodologically demanding because individual data of the employees must be queried. It has been raised since 2004 and is currently six percent.

The difference in earnings between men and women with comparable properties is collected. “At the adjusted gender Pay GAP, we see where the causes of the merit gap are. Measurable wage -defining differences between women and men are largely calculated here. This means that we receive the gap between women and men with a nearer -comparable properties. What is missing in our survey, for example, are information about acquisitions,” says Schröder. The value would probably be even smaller. So be equivalent to discrimination because he compares the sexes with a comparable position and qualification.

“Both values ​​have a different meaning, but also their right to exist,” says Schröder. The uninanced gender pay gap is also about access hurdles on the job market. “With the adjusted gender Pay GAP, we can emphasize the causes of the different services.”

The statisticians use the gross hourly wages for the calculation of both values ​​because the monthly or annual earnings would falsify statistics due to different employment scope.

The gender Pay GAP is 20 percent worldwide – women earn less than men. However, this value varies depending on the country and region – also within Europe. The merit of merit in the Federal Republic is very high in a European comparison. According to the Statistik platform Eurostat, Germany ranks in the fourth last place. The gender Pay Gap in Estonia (21.3 percent) and the lowest in Luxembourg (0.7 percent) is highest.

“This is due to the fact that women’s employment participation in some countries is lower compared to Germany,” admits Schröder. The few employees work in Italy, for example, in better -paid areas and positions. This reduces the gender Pay GAP, but basically hardly changes anything to equal rights and distribution of women and men on the labor market. The sexual wage differences are therefore difficult to compare across bodies.

The Federal Statistical Office calculates the wage gap based on pay slips of around 58,000 companies in the Federal Republic from April. “April is the first month a year without seasonal effects,” says Schröder. Therefore, data from the month are considered to be particularly representative. In addition to seasonal effects, the economics, defense, social security, fishing and agriculture are also excluded in the calculation.

“At 27 percent, the Gender Pay GAP is the highest in the area of ​​banks and insurance companies,” says Schröder. In the information and communication sector, the value is 23 percent and 20 percent for tax and management consultancy. Schröder suspects: “This may be due to the fact that, for example, banks and insurance companies are male career domes.” Management positions are mostly male there. The value is also high for freelancers, scientific and technical services.

According to the microcensus, women are mainly involved in the trade, the hospitality industry, in education and education, health and social affairs, art, entertainment and relaxation. The proportion of women is 49 percent within these economic sectors.

“The gender pay gap could increase with increasing age because women keep interrupting their career in the course of their working life,” says the Statistics platform Eurostat. This also proves data from the demographic portal. In 2020, every second employed woman was part -time. For men it was only every eighth. Almost half of all women interviewed stated that they were part -time from personal or family obligations, and only eleven percent said that men said. Most of them (25 percent) followed up for part-time employment because of the training or further education, and women are seven percent.

The statisticians of the Federal Statistical Office say that the merits of women stagnate after the birth of the first child, “while that of men’s men”. “Men then seem to make more careers and achieve higher merits,” says Schröder. Here, too, the numbers show that men work an average of over 80 percent full -time regardless of the age of the (youngest) children.

Over 50 percent of women with children remain part -time. “But there are also many part -time women who would like to work more hours. A reason for the high part -time quota could be too small for all -day care for children,” says the demographic portal.

In 2024, however, the statisticians recorded a new record among women: 16.2 million women were therefore subject to social security contributions. That was over 90,000 more than in the previous year.

In 2022, the Gender Pay GAP was raised for the first time to federal states. With 27 percent in Baden-Württemberg, the average wage gap between the sexes is the highest and lowest in Saxony-Anhalt (nine percent). If you look at the adjusted value, the picture changes: Brandenburg is nine percent in first place, in Schleswig-Holstein the wage difference between men and women with comparable qualifications, training and position is the lowest.

“In Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, the adjusted gender pay gap is greater than the uninanced,” is the conclusion of the study. This means that women in these federal states have properties that justify a higher payment.

The traffic light government had set itself the goal of reducing the unrefined gender Pay GAP to ten percent by 2030. According to Schröder, there are certain factors that could affect the differences in earnings in the next few years: “The high -birth vintages with rather traditional role models are now retiring. But the structures would also have to change. Specifically, this means: expanding childcare, increasing management positions with women, more salary in typical women’s professions.

In a study, the statisticians showed how a higher minimum wage and earnings impact for women affect the gender pay gap. Women and men benefit equally in the minimum lighter increase. If the minimum wage was 15 euros, according to the simulation, the unavoidable gender Pay GAP could fall to 17 percent. The study author suggests increasing the minimum wage in economic areas that are particularly strongly occupied by women, but the simulation also shows that an increase in the minimum wage in areas occupied by women have little effect on the uninfected gender PAY GAP.

Signs of earnings for women around one euro per hour would reduce the Gender Pay GAP to 15.5 percent. “A comprehensive increase in the gross hour of women (…) thus achieves a stronger effect on the gender pay gap than the increase in the statutory minimum wage (…) for all industries,” says the simulation report. In order to achieve the goal of the Federal Government to reduce the gender Pay GAP to 10 percent by 2030, the gross hours earnings of women would have to be increased by 2.20 euros. However, that would be the least gender -friendly measure.

In a study, the international Labor organization pleads for a pay transparency legislation. It has already been introduced in several countries, such as in Canada, Chile, the United States, but also in some EU countries. It is a tool to control the payment of women and men. Employees are said to have access to payment levels.

In Germany there is something similar in a weakened form: The Federal Government introduced the so -called fee transparency law in 2017. Employers must inform their employees about the criteria of their payment on request. Private employers also have to regularly disclose their remuneration structures and create position reports for equal rights when paying.

However, critics fear that the transparency could reduce the men’s content.