Gender pay gap in the EU: Economic activity and job seniority

“Equal pay for equal work” is one of the fundamental principles of the European Union. However, statistical surveys show that in EU countries the wages differences between men and women are 18% on average. Gender Pay Gap (GPG) is the most popular measure that describes wages differences. It represents the difference between average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees and of female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees.

Presented analysis is a part of wider research entitled Wages inequalities between men and women in Poland on the background of the European Union(provided with the financial support of the National Science Centre, grant No. 2011/01/B/HS4/06346). One of the aim of this research is to analyze the differences between women and men wages in different labor market areas. Previous analysis pointed out that wages disparities can be different according to state, age, economic activity, level of education and occupation among others. In this paper we conduct statistical analysis of the gender pay differences that depend upon economic activity and job seniority (in the enterprise).

The significant salaries differences can point out the horizontal segregation presence. That might result from the fact that women's economic activity is concentrated in several sectors (for example education, health and social work), where salaries are generally lower. While the men’s economic activity spread out in more branches. Such situation is the result of the stereotype that women are not suited to performing the same jobs as men (- lack of physical strength and required competences/skills, smaller availability).

Length of service (in the enterprise) is usually shorter for women because women often resign from work (partly or fully, for the short or long period) due to their tutelary or parental duties.

Investigation is based on the Eurostat data collected within the framework of Structure of Earnings Survey (SES) in years 2002 and 2006 for the EU member states. In the research we apply statistical methods and single-equation econometric models.