The figures that divide us: X-ray of the wage gap in Euskadi

A woman must work 88 days more to earn the same as a man. This is demonstrated by the most recent data available on the wage gap in the Basque Country (2019, INE, Survey of Wage Structure) provided by the Basque Government. women perceive on average 6331 euros less year than their male peers, that is, they earn 19.5% less. The difference has hardly changed in 10 years (in 2009, it was 6,497 euros) although in percentage terms it has dropped almost four points (a decade ago it rose to 23%).

This slow but positive evolution shows how necessary public measures and policies are still to achieve a more egalitarian society. The Basque Government has the 2022-2025 Operational Action Plan ready to reduce the wage gap, which it will approve shortly.

Somewhat more optimistic are the data referring to the wage gap calculated on the basis of normal working hours (It is together with the average annual salary, the other reference indicator to measure gender inequality). The average earnings per hour was, in 2019, 20.5 euros in the case of men, and 18.5 euros in the case of women, that is, the former received 9.5% more than the latter . If we compare the amounts with those of 2009, substantial differences are perceived: the percentage was almost double (18.2%).

In fact, the Basque indicator (9.5) is below the European Union (EU) average, which stood at 14.1 in 2019, and is also below that of the Spanish State (11.9) , even more so compared to that of the French State (16.5). The evolution of the wage gap within the EU, although it has improved, is very slow, and in five years it has only been reduced by less than two percentage points (the average was 15.7 in 2014).

It is striking that countries as advanced as Germany or Finland present such high gaps, of 19 and 16%, respectively. Against them, countries like Italy (4.7), Romania (3.3) or Luxembourg (1.3) lead the list of the most egalitarian.

What factors affect the wage gap?

The wage gap is structural in nature and has multiple causes, although sexist discrimination and the logic of the heteropatrical system function as the axis in most of them.

In fact, all the official data collected in this report ignores that invisible economy of domestic and care work. Those jobs that, in general, fall to women, are neither recognized nor paid, so the wage gap between men and women is more accentuated. In addition, it constitutes the whiting that bites its tail, since many women do not even opt for the labor market due to the inability to reconcile.

The lack of co-responsibility in care also translates into salary differences, since many working women do it partially or discontinuously to be able to reconcile.

In addition, this situation is not only reflected in the salary to be received, but also, outside the working day, women spend more time on care and domestic work and less on training or active leisure or sports.

Women, in more precarious jobs and with more partial days

The temporary nature of the contracts and the type of working day also have an influence. Women are at a clear disadvantage compared to men: in 2020, 26% of women had a temporary contract, compared to 19.2% of men. Part-time contracts were much more numerous in the case of women: in 2020, 26.2% of them had a contract of this type, while in the case of men it barely reached 6%.

The employment rate for women in 2020 was 8.5 points lower than that for men (45.7% compared to 54.42%), although it should be noted that in the last four years it has dropped by half a point.

Occupational segregation is another cause of this sexist wage gap. This difference begins to be perceived already in the studies completed by one and the other. Women are more numerous at university: 54% compared to 45.98% men. They are the majority (72.3%) in engineering and architecture studies, while they dominate enrollment in health sciences (76%).

On the other hand, vocational training, both intermediate and higher, is strongly masculinized, with percentages that exceed 60%.

Already in the workplace, this segregation translates into differences between genders by sectors. 9 out of 10 employed women work in the service sector (in general, lower paid), and 8 out of 10 men work in industry. The percentages of women present in industry and construction barely represent 21 and 11%, where men are the vast majority.

The differences that can be seen in the average salary received according to the level of responsibility and qualification are also relevant, although these indicators have improved in the last three years. It is shocking to see that the salary gap skyrockets in low salaries (coupled with operators and elementary occupations): men receive 40% more than their female counterparts. Although somewhat lower, the difference in salaries in average jobs is also high; while men earn 28,938 euros, women receive almost 8,500 euros less; that is, the salary difference is close to 30%. In high salaries, women continue to receive less, although the distances are shortened (the gap stands at 18.4%). However, it should be remembered that there are far fewer women in positions of responsibility (the effect of the well-known glass ceiling).

By age, the greatest salary differences occur in the age groups between 35 and 44 years (7,523 euros difference, and a gap of 22.6%) and 45-54 years (they earn 7,761 euros more than them) . On the contrary, the gap does not reach 8% in the case of people under 25 years of age and is close to 15% among those 55 years of age or older.

However, the evolution has been positive since 2016 in almost all age groups, and the drop of 10 points registered among the oldest population stands out. In the opposite direction, a worrying fact: the salary difference between men and women between 25-34 years has increased almost two points since 2016.

Special mention deserve the pensions, where the gender gap is very evident due to a lower contribution base among the female group. It is indeed possible to see that more and more women receive retirement pensions thanks to their incorporation into the labor market in past decades, but the amounts received by them represent an average of 658 euros less.

In addition, 53% of women receive widow’s pensions (of a lower amount) while 96% of men receive a retirement pension.

It is clear that the salary gap does not understand ages, studies or countries, only gender.