According to the results of the Permanent National Employment Survey (EPEN) of the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), from April 2023 to March 2024, men recorded an average monthly income of S/1,898, 1 while women they recorded S/1,420.4; that is, around S/477 less than men, a difference of 25%.
This would include the total remuneration received by dependent and independent workers, whether in their main and/or secondary activity, in addition to extraordinary income, such as bonuses, compensation for time of service, profits and others.
Along these lines, we see that monthly income gaps do not distinguish the educational level achieved. While a woman with higher education can obtain S/2,094.5 monthly, a man receives S/2,751.3, representing a gap of 24%. Likewise, women with secondary education report income of up to S/1,033, while a man with the same level of education can generate S/1,525.4, translating into a gap of 32.3%.
In the case of primary level, women generate income of S/721.1, while men do so for S/987.7, registering a gap of 27%. However, Women who only have a primary education had a greater economic participation in the first quarter of this year (60.5%) than those who have a secondary education (54.8%).
“This may be because women with primary education accept almost any job in precarious conditions even because they cannot afford not to work under the extremely low economic condition they have,” says Natalia Manso, professor of social responsibility at the Pacífico Business School and gender specialist.
It is also important to consider the participation of the female population in different economic activities. In the first quarter of 2024, women only stand out in activities in the commerce and services sectors, with a participation of 25.2% and 44.9%, respectively. And these would be the least paid sectors, according to Manso.
Female participation in the labor market below pre-pandemic figures
In the first quarter of this year, 61.7% of women actively participated in the labor market, registering a difference of 17 percentage points in favor of men (78.7%), according to the INEI. This figure is still below the pre-pandemic average, where women had a participation of 65.3%.
The gender specialist affirms that we are stuck in the gap in the economic activity rate between women and men and that even last year we did better, the difference being 16.5 points. Now we have the same gap as in 2022.
“This is because the structural factors do not change; that is, women continue to have difficulties finding a formal job or a place to leave their children safely. Therefore, it is difficult to make household chores compatible with their professional activity. As long as the care network factors, equitable distribution of household tasks between fathers and mothers, and greater access to formal work do not change, the position of women in the labor market will not improve either,” says Manso.
In addition, The increase in the unemployment rate in women to 7.6% – 2.2 percentage points higher than that of men – in the first quarter of the year, would be explained by the maternity penaltya name that was born from a study by Princeton University and the London School of Economics.
In this document, it is noted that 40% of Peruvian workers stop working immediately after having their first child and this effect persists over time since after 10 years, 41% of them still have not rejoined the labor market.
“Unemployment affects women of reproductive age more. It happens that access to a care network has not improved nor has men’s participation in household chores. As long as we do not work in a culture with a more equal distribution, “Women are going to have to give up hours of formal work or paid work to dedicate themselves to unpaid work, which is housework,” explains the specialist.
This, in turn, is evident in the year-on-year informal employment rate, which is that Women outnumber men in informal jobs with 73.6% compared to 69.2%. While in terms of formal work, it is men who have a higher percentage with 30.8% compared to 26.4%. Manso points out that this would be due to the flexible hours that informal jobs have, since they allow women to continue caring for their children.
Source: Larepublica
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