Addressing the gender pay gap: Government and social partner actions – Hungary
Disclaimer: This information is made available as a service to the public but has not been edited or approved by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The content is the responsibility of the authors.
As measuring the gender pay gap has its own difficulties, in Hungary the establishment of an autonomous (adequately representative) database - set up within the framework of an EQUAL project - and the abolition of structural and discrimination factors based on it, is a positive phenomenon. In addition to the creation of the Equal Treatment Authority, actively operating working bodies have been set up to meet the EU ROADMAP targets. Despite some success, there is yet a long way to go to eradicate the gender pay gap, not least creating awareness of the issue among the stakeholders.
1. The gender pay gap: national data
1.1. Please provide the reference details (see fact-sheet below), including a brief summary, of the main studies and research on the size and the determinants of the gender pay gap in your country published in the period 1999-2009.
| National studies on the gender pay gap | Fact-sheet no. 1 |
|---|---|
| Title | Databank of the Institute of Economics (IE) |
| Authors | Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Közgazdaságtudományi Intézet, MTA KTI) |
| Year of publication | |
| Bibliographic references | |
| Link to electronic copy of the report | http://adatbank.mtakti.hu/view/state/form/id/23/ |
| Coverage (nation-wide, sectors, occupations, regions, etc: please specify in detail) | Nation-wide |
| Time span (e.g. 1995-2003) | 1986-2004 |
| Data-set (official, ad-hoc survey or study, etc: please specify in detail) | Individual wage survey run by the head office of the Public Employment Service (Állami Foglalkoztatási Szolgálat, ÁFSZ) |
| Type of analyses performed on the data-set (methods, e.g. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition) | Linear regression estimate |
| Main results. Unadjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | |
Main results. Adjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends
Wage advantage of men over women |
Wage advantage of men over women: 1986 – 0.26 1989 – 0.26 1992 – 0.19 1995 – 0.16 1998 – 0.15 2001 – 0.16 2004 – 0.16 |
| Main results. Please list the individual and/or workplace variables taken into consideration in the adjusted gender pay gap (e.g. education, age, seniority, working hours, occupation, region, sector, firm size, etc.) | Wage gap controlled for 20 combinations of educational level and age: (0-8 grades, vocational school, secondary school, college or university, <25 years, 25-34 years, 34-44 years, 45-54 years, 55 years or older, reference: 35-44 years old high-school graduate); four size categories of businesses (<20 employees, 21-50 employees, 51-300 employees, >300 employees, reference: budgetary institution); town, village (reference: county centre); subregional rate of unemployment; county (reference: Pest county), two-digit sector dummy variables. |
| Main results. Which ‘institutional’ or policy variables (qualitative or quantitative) have been taken into account in the study? Is there evidence (i.e. in multi-national studies incorporating your country, or when observing a national switch in policies such as, for instance, the introduction of sectoral minimum wages) that certain institutional factors or policies have tended to affect (narrow) the gender pay gap? | - |
| Main results. The determinants of the gender pay gap: please provide a brief summary | - |
| Main results. Policy recommendations: please provide a brief summary | - |
| National studies on the gender pay gap | Fact-sheet no. 2 |
|---|---|
| Title | Differences between the wages of women and men Subtitle: Situation assessment and recommendations based on the database of WageIndicator (BerBarometer) of a sample of 10,000 |
| Authors | Szilvia Borbély - Maria Vanicsek |
| Year of publication | Budapest 2008 |
| Bibliographic references | „A nők és férfiak bére közötti különbségek”, edited by MSZOSZ/SZGTI ISBN 978-963-06-4177-7 |
| Link to electronic copy of the report | http://www.berbarometer.hu/main/kutatasaink-kiadvanyok/equal3-beliv-1.pdf |
| Coverage (nation-wide, sectors, occupations, regions, etc: please specify in detail) | Nation wide |
| Time span (e.g. 1995-2003) | 2007 |
| Data-set (official, ad-hoc survey or study, etc: please specify in detail) | The data has been collected through face to face interviews using an adapted version of WageIndicator’s (Netherlands) on-line questionnaire. 10,000 interviews were carried out. The sample was representative from the following points of view: gender, age distribution, regional distribution of the population, education, main occupational groups. The sample was greatly over-representing the manufacturing industry and slightly under-representing construction, trade, real estate and public administration. Furthermore, the sample highly over-represented the trade union membership. |
| Type of analyses performed on the data-set (methods, e.g. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition) | Database in SPSS format; descriptive statistics (mean, median, frequencies, percentiles, cross tables) |
| Main results. Unadjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | |
| Main results. Adjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | National averages (level, 2006/2007) Gross wage average (mean) wage gap: 20.8% Net wage average (mean) wage gap: 17.7% Gross median wage gap: 14% Data has been taken into consideration in case of full time employee status. Calculations are based on monthly average wages. |
| Main results. Please list the individual and/or workplace variables taken into consideration in the adjusted gender pay gap (e.g. education, age, seniority, working hours, occupation, region, sector, firm size, etc.) | Variables: Sector, main occupational groups, workplace status (blue collar, white collar, manager), education, firm size, county, type of settlement, age group, number of children) |
| Main results. Which ‘institutional’ or policy variables (qualitative or quantitative) have been taken into account in the study? Is there evidence (i.e. in multi-national studies incorporating your country, or when observing a national switch in policies such as, for instance, the introduction of sectoral minimum wages) that certain institutional factors or policies have tended to affect (narrow) the gender pay gap? | Female participation within the (national) minimum wage earners is 60% . |
| Main results. The determinants of the gender pay gap: please provide a brief summary | Number of children (25-26% net pay gap with 2 or more children, 8% in case of women without children, 14% in case of women with one child) Age (over 56 average net pay gap is 24%) Status in workplace (white collars net pay gap 26%) Firm size (highest- 25% - net pay gap in case of firms with 2000-5000 employees) Settlement type: (highest net pay gap in the capital, 20%) Sectoral income level – bigger pay gap in sectors with the highest income (such as real estate and other economic services where the net pay gap is 31%, in the chemical industry 26%) Education – higher education, higher pay gap (university graduates’ gross pay gap 22%, net pay gap 17%) |
| Main results. Policy recommendations: please provide a brief summary | - Special attention should be paid to women with 2 or more children; to single (or divorced) women with children. - It should be taken into consideration that interest representation and (self) promotion capacity of men increases with the age |
* Female pay as a percentage of male pay.
| National studies on the gender pay gap | Fact-sheet no. 3 |
|---|---|
| Title | Gender inequalities in the labour market. Decomposition of the gender pay gap in Hungary |
| Authors | András Rigler, Maria Vanicsek |
| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Bibliographic references | |
| Link to electronic copy of the report | www.berbarometer.hu |
| Coverage (nation-wide, sectors, occupations, regions, etc: please specify in detail) | Nation wide |
| Time span (e.g. 1995-2003) | 2006/2007 |
| Data-set (official, ad-hoc survey or study, etc: please specify in detail) | The data has been collected through face to face interviews using an adapted version of WageIndicator’s (Netherlands) on-line questionnaire. 10,000 interviews were carried out. The sample was representative from the following points of view: gender, age distribution, regional distribution of the population, education, main groups of profession. The sample was highly over-representing the manufacturing industry and slightly under representing the construction, trade, real estate and public administration. Furthermore, the sample highly overrepresented the trade union membership. |
| Type of analyses performed on the data-set (methods, e.g. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition) | Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition |
| Main results. Unadjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | |
| Main results. Adjusted gender pay gap (W/M%*): please indicate both levels and trends | Net Pay gap, filtered sample 17.7% The complete sample has been filtered as follows: • the question regarding income has to be filled out in the questionnaire, • Respondents must have full time employee status, • Respondents must be between 25-55 years old |
| Main results. Please list the individual and/or workplace variables taken into consideration in the adjusted gender pay gap (e.g. education, age, seniority, working hours, occupation, region, sector, firm size, etc.) | Income’ natural logarithm is the dependent variable of the model. Structural variables of the model: Type of settlement, County, Age group, Having children, Sector of the organisation, Branch of your organisation, Occupatio, Position in the organisation, Education, Other qualification, Number of employees in the organisation, Proportion of women in the organisation, Work experience, How many jobs do you have?, How long were you unemployed for?, Fixed term or indefinite labour contract The 16 variables groups were transformed into dummy variables. |
| Main results. Which ‘institutional’ or policy variables (qualitative or quantitative) have been taken into account in the study? Is there evidence (i.e. in multi-national studies incorporating your country, or when observing a national switch in policies such as, for instance, the introduction of sectoral minimum wages) that certain institutional factors or policies have tended to affect (narrow) the gender pay gap? | Collective agreement in the organisation It corresponds for 15% of total pay gap (discrimination effect) (that is 2.6% of 17.7%) . Behind this unexpected result may lay the secondary effect of the predominance of collective agreement in the "masculine" sectors. Trade union membership No significant effects have been detected. (Note: there is low level of fixed-term contracts and TU membership as well.) Type of contract (fixed-term or open-ended) No significant effects have been detected. (Note: there is a low level of fixed-term contracts and TU membership as well.) |
| Main results. The determinants of the gender pay gap: please provide a brief summary | The total structural (endowment) effect is (-7.2%) (In the absence of discrimination women’s wages would be 7.2% higher than those of men). The total discrimination effect is 26.9% (Female wage would be 26.9% lower if their structural characteristics corresponded to those of men.) The total pay gap based on the two factors is 17.7% In terms of the discrimination effect, the main factors are 1. Education (a woman with higher education attainment has to face higher a level of discrimination) 2. Job experience (the length of the work experience strengthens the discrimination) 3. Women's share in organisation ( wherever men outnumber women, the level of discrimination is rather high) |
| Main results. Policy recommendations: please provide a brief summary | Continuous efforts should be made to oust discriminative wage structures. |
1.2. Are there any studies published in the 1999-2009 period, possibly using qualitative methods, which investigate the social processes which contribute to determining the gender pay gap through selection, occupational segregation, discrimination, and the like? Is there any research on the development of pay gaps during the life course? Do pay gaps emerge at the beginning of the individual careers of women or do they become significant at later stages of professional development? Because of different gendered career paths or because pay gaps tend to increase as the professional career advances (i.e. higher gaps at higher organisation positions)?
1. Inequalities of chances appearing in the earnings from salaries of men and women as reflected in statistical data ( Nők és férfiak kereseti esélyegyenlősége a statisztikai adatok tükrében)
The study was conducted in the framework of the ROADMAP Programme for the working group entitled “Equal salary for equal work” . The publication was edited by Erzsébet Eperjesi-Lindner, in cooperation with Anna Kovács, Judit Brosch Wlaszlovitsné, Reviewed by Anikó Soltész, Budapest, 2007 The full report is available in English and in Hungarian.
The analysis is based on official (2005/2006) data of FSZH.
The study does not seek to identify structural and discrimination factors behind the pay gap, as it concludes: ” It has to be taken into account that female pay deficit can equally result from unfavourable job-market characteristics and from job-market discrimination, but – because of problems of measurement and definition – it is usually not possible to separate these two effects.” The study found that the national average gender pay gap was 11% (2005) (Note: it is official data appearing in official statistical publications.) Taking a closer look: in the competitive sector the pay gap in the case of white-collar female workers was 35% in 2005; it is nearly the same as in 2006 (33%). In the case of blue-collar occupations the pay gap was 25% in 2005 and 24% in 2006; the same year 35-39-year-old women earned 22% less than men of the same age. Educational background is the most powerful influencing factor. In the competitive sector women with a university degree have the highest pay gap. A huge part of the earnings differences between the two genders can be explained by occupational segregation. One-third of the women work only in 10 occupations, moreover, in the majority of these occupations women are represented in an overwhelming proportion (over 90%). In the majority of these occupations men have pay advantage.
2. Maria Frey: Structural factors influencing the pay differences of women and men (2007) (A nők és férfiak kereseti különbségét befolyásoló strukturális jellemzők). Available only in Hungarian
Paper, desk analysis, Accomplished in the framework of the ROADMAP programme for the working group entitled “Equal salary for equal work”
Main finding: Persistent gender cleavage in the labour market threatens flexibility, which can generate acute labour shortage impeding economic growth. In 2005 the gross average female pay was 87.1 % of the gross average male pay. The highest pay gap was observed in case of employees with higher education (30% in case of BS and BA and 23% in case of MS and MA), which must be in relation with the higher position of men with higher education and more years with work. Taking into consideration the sectors, the biggest pay gap (22.5 %) was observed in the public sector which is characterised by female majority. The pay gap is mainly due to the segregation of professions. 54% of professions are male dominated (with 74% of men and 12-13% of women in them) and 30% of professions are female dominated (75% of women and 13% of men). The male wages are much higher also in female dominated professions than the female wages (but no conrete figure is mentioned). The data are based on the Central Statistical Office LFS data in 2005.
3. Working conditions of women and men with focus on the reconciliation of duties at work and in the family. Belgium, Hungary and the Netherlands, (November 2007, Amsterdam, Budapest, Brussels), EQUAL eSolution: Equal pay for equal work!
Authors: Dirk Dragstra, Kea Tijdens, Maarten van Klaveren, Paulien Osse , Szilvia Borbély, Zsolt Pacskovszki, Tim Guily (available in Hungarian and in English)
Editor: SZGTI Foundation, ISBN 978-963-06-3882-1
Available in Hungarian and English
Main findings: The higher the level of education of the respondent, the higher is the probability for them to attain further qualification after formal education. The vicious circle of low level formal education implying low participation in further training should be broken and special measures should be taken to raise the motivation and facilitate the access of lower level educational goups to further education also.
1.3. Are there any studies in your country on how gender differentials of pay have been affected by the current economic crisis?
No
2. Government initiatives to address the gender pay gap
2.1. In light of the current economic crisis, has the national government taken any steps to assess and monitor the impact of the current economic downturn on gender pay inequalities? If yes, please briefly illustrate them, including the results of such assessment. Has the government started any initiatives to prevent or address the possible widening of the gender pay gap because of the economic downturn?
No
2.2. Please illustrate the major government initiatives to address the gender pay gap put in place since 2005. Since there is extensive legislation on gender equality, interventions are usually of an indirect nature.
Establishment of specific bodies
1. Equal Treatment Authority (Egyenlő Bánásmód Hatóság, EBH) operating since 1 February 2005.
Independent organisation set up by the Hungarian government to deal with individual and public complaints related to the infringement of equal treatment law.
2. Working group: „Equal pay for equal work” ("Egyenlő munkáért egyenlő bért" munkacsoport)
Established in December 2006 by the Department for Gender Equality of the Ministry of Social Affairs (Nők és Férfiak Társadalmi Esélyegyenlősége Osztály, Szociális és Munkaügyi Minisztérium, SZMM)
Objective: the fulfilment of EU Roadmap targets
Participants: experts of the topic (from universities, NGOs, trade unions, ministries)
Activities: proposals for legal amendments, analysis, website, conference on the topic
3. Working group: „Establishing equal economic independence for women and men” ("A nők és a férfiak egyenlő mértékű gazdasági függetlenségének megteremtése" munkacsoport)
Subgroups
- Women as entrepreneurs
- Equal pay for equal work
- Lisbon strategy
- Gender budgeting
Established in 2007 by the Department for Gender Equality of SZMM, it replaced the working group „Equal pay for equal work” which had a similar objective and participants
Activities 2007-2009
Papers produced (available at: http://www.szmm.gov.hu/main.php?folderID=21255):
Maria Frey: The structural factors influencing the pay differences of women and man (only in Hungarian);
Eperjesiné, Erzsébet Lindner: Inequalities of chances appearing in the earnings from salaries of men and women as reflected by statistical data (in Hungarian and English);
Szilvia Borbély: Gender pay situation on alternative database (only in Hungarian);
Rózsáné, Marianna Lupkovics: Measures to fight pay inequalities blocking equal opportunity (only in Hungarian);
Katalin Tausz: Female poverty (only in Hungarian);
Maria Kopp: Health of women and man today in Hungary (only in Hungarian);
Angéla Kóczé: Limits of societal chances for Roma women (only in Hungarian)
Translations into Hungarian:
Code of Practice On Equal Pay 2003, A code of practice on the implementation of equal pay for work of equal value for women and man (1996); Framework of action and good practices
Research:
SEED Foundation for Small Enterprise Economic Development (SEED Alapítvány): Situation of women entrepreneurs; Gender budgeting of Pécs city; MARMOL Unlimited Partnership: The “female sectors” (textile-and garment industry, trade, education and health) under loupe (all available only in Hungarian)
Conference presenting the working group activity, Miskolc, 8 May, 2008
Learning material and training on equal opportunity and employment ( SEED Foundation)
4. Council on the societal equality of women and men (Nők és Férfiak Társadalmi Egyenlősége Tanács)
The council was established in 2006 and in 2009 an amendment
A position paper preparing the (1008/2009. (I. 28.) government decree has been issued.
The members of Council are: delegates of ministries, Prime Minister Office, 11 outstanding persons and experts of the issue, 8 delegates from civil organisations acting in the field of gender equality.
Legislation
Legislation on quota-systems
A proposal was submitted to the Parliament by Klára Sándor and Bálint Magyar (MPs of the Free Liberal Democrats (SZDSZ) in 2007 to introduce a quota system. However, the proposal was not passed as a law.
Other legislative initiatives
Amendment of the Law on Equal Treatment on the main rules of operation of Equal Treatment Authority and its Advisory Board in 2006
Awareness-raising
Conference: The Implementation of the Roadmap (2006-2010) in Hungary, 17November, 2008, Place of event: Building of the Hungarian Parliament
2.3. Please illustrate the main initiatives by the government to address the gender pay gap since 2005 in the public sector. Here the government acts as the employer and can intervene more directly, even if often the rules on compensation leave less room for pay differentials.
Local governments: gender budgeting
The National Committee Association of the United Nations Fund for Women (Egyesült Nemzetek Női Fejlesztési Alapja, Magyar Nemzeti Bizottság) in its programme for 2009 set out to promote gender-responsive budgeting for local authorities, i.e. to allocate money to implement policies and programmes to change gender patterns to move to a more gender equal society.
Gender-mainstreaming training and training material for public servants
The initiative was carried out by the Department for Gender Equality of the Ministry of Social Affairs and financed by the Progress programme of the European Commission.
Mandatory equality plans for public administrations
Analysis of Marianna Lizák Matiscsákné on the Equal opportunity plans in the public sector within the framework of the Working group: „Establishing equal economic independence of women and men” (Available only in Hungarian)
Available at:
3. Social partner initiatives to address the gender pay gap
3.1. In light of the current economic crisis, have the social partners, whether unilaterally or jointly, taken any steps to assess and monitor the impact of the current economic downturn on gender pay inequalities? If yes, please briefly illustrate them, including the results of such assessment. Have the social partners started any initiatives to prevent or address the possible widening of the gender pay gap because of the economic downturn?
No
3.2. Please indicate whether the gender pay gap has figured prominently on the trade union agenda since 2005. Have the trade unions initiated in this period any specific initiatives to address the gender pay gap? Please illustrate the most important of such initiatives.
For instance, these could include:
- Awareness-raising campaigns
- Starting organising efforts targeted at low-paid occupations/sector where female employment is particularly high
- Including the issue of the gender pay gap in collective bargaining rounds
- Training initiatives to fight gender segregation
The EQUAL project H005 „Equal pay for equal work! Establishing e-WageBarometer in partnership” (July 2005-April 2008) was carried out in partnership between two national level trade union confederations (National Association of Hungarian Trade Unions (Magyar Szakszervezetek Országos Szövetsége, MSZOSZ) and Confederation of Unions of Professionals (Értelmiségi Szakszervezeti Tömörülés, ÉSZT), a trade union research institute and a civil organisation (Women for the Future Foundation (Nők a Jövöért Egyesület) aimed to fight against the disadvantaged situation of female workers in the labour market. The Hungarian harmonised electronic “Wageindicator” tool (Bérbarométer) (website, on-line questionnaire, database, salary checker) has been developed; related services (research based on the database, dissemination activities including several printed and on-line content and conferences) were carried out; sensibilisation of an already critical mass of women and men concerning gender mainstreaming and gender equality took place.
In 2007 the trade union confederation, MSZOSZ, organised a series of training programmes for trade unions at workplace level to promote the formulation of equal opportunity plans not only in the public sector (where it is compulsory with staff over 50 persons) but also in the private sector.
3.3. Please indicate whether the gender pay gap has figured prominently on the employer associations agenda since 2005. Have the main employer associations initiated in this period any specific initiatives to address the gender pay gap? Please illustrate the most important of such initiatives.
According to the international director of Confederation of Hungarian Employers and Industrialists (Munkaadók és Gyáriparosok Országos Szövetsége, MGYOSZ), one of the biggest employers organisations, employers in general act in compliance with the article 142/A of the Labour Code on equal wage for equal work but do not carry out any relevant campaign in the present economic situation. Notwithstanding there are several companies organising special training for women and mothers in childcare to be able maintain their job.
3.4. Please indicate whether multi-employer collective bargaining has contributed to address the gender pay gap since 2005. Has multi-employer collective bargaining introduced specific clauses or instruments to address the gender pay gap? Please illustrate the most important of such clauses or instruments.
For instance, these could include:
- Information disclosure rights on wage differentials
- The establishment of joint committees and observatories or other forms of joint cooperation on pay equity
- Joint statements on equal pay or gender equality in employment in general
- Special pay increases for occupations where female employment is particularly high
- Revision of job classification systems to detect and eliminate discriminatory pay gaps
- Special training, mentoring and other measures to support women’s career (including for women re-entering employment after maternity)
- Special work-life balance arrangements to support the career development of women
3.5. Please indicate whether single-employer collective bargaining and social dialogue practices at company level have contributed to address the gender pay gap since 2005. Has single-employer collective bargaining introduced specific clauses or instruments to address the gender pay gap at company level? Please illustrate the most important of such clauses or instruments.
For instance, these could include:
- Information disclosure rights on compensation systems and wage differentials
- The establishment of joint committees and observatories or other forms of joint cooperation on pay equity
- Special pay increases for jobs where female employment is particularly high
- Revision of job classification systems to detect and eliminate discriminatory pay gaps
- Special training, mentoring and other measures to support women’s career (including for women re-entering employment after maternity)
- Special work-life balance arrangements to support the career development of women
- Initiatives on equal pay or gender equality in employment in general at EWC level
In several collective agreements we can find stipulations concerning female employees but pre-eminently from the point of view of health and safety and the reconciliation of work and family life. There are special regulations concerning women in night shifts (for example in the printing industry women must undergo thorough medical checking before taking up work in night shift lasting more than 4 weeks and women with 3 or more children can be employed in night shifts only on their own consent).
The Trade Union Federation of Metalworkers (Vasasszakszervezet) in its proposal for the collective bargaining proposes to establish Equal Opportunity Committees with the participation of trade unions and employers. According to the proposal the gender composition of the committee must correspond to the gender proportion of staff in the given company. However, no information is available about the actual implementation of the proposal.
3.6 Has the issue of the gender pay gap been particularly important in certain sectors? If yes, please indicate the sectors involved (up to three), the main reasons of such relevance and its most significant expressions and achievements (up to three for each sector - unilateral actions by employers or unions, joint initiatives, collective bargaining).
In the textile and garment industry the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee (Ágazati Párbeszéd Bizottság) consider it of particular importance to deal with gender issues. As a joint initiative of the trade union and the employer side, a methodology for a joint research has been prepared. The aim of the research was to focus not only on the wage but also investigate the cost/benefit of the female employment from the employers’ angle.
4. Good practices
4.1. Since 2005, have there been any major initiatives to identify, collect and disseminate good practices on equal pay or more generally on gender equality in employment?
If yes, please illustrate:
- who started such initiatives (the government, the social partners jointly, unions or employer associations, individual employers, researchers, etc.),
- the main good practices identified by this exercise (up to three),
- where they were originated (public sector, private sector, public policies, collective bargaining, unilateral action, etc.) and
- whether and to what extent the dissemination efforts have been successful.
EQUAL project H005 „Equal pay for equal work! Establishing e-WageBarometer in partnership”
July 2005-April 2008
Initiated by two trade union confederations and two NGOs
Main results
- establishment of an autonomous database of 10,000 items on income (wages), work and employment conditions by gender
- active participation of rank and file trade unionists in the project – “learning by doing”
- sensibilisation of a critical mass to gender equality at workplace level
Dissemination of the generated knowledge
- through the website, www.berbarometer.com (65,000 visitors in 2007/2008); 22,800 findings in the google.com
- 19 county seminars (with 500 participants altogether)
- conferences (national conference held in the Parliament with 500 participants)
- dissemination of articles and translations (more than 100)
- 7 booklets
- e-learning training material
- 40 newsletters
All materials can be found in the www.berbarometer.com
“Women and Men Network”, 2007/2008
An initiative of EQUAL Authority, carried out in the framework of several EQUAL partnerships
Products:
e-learning material:
“Equal pay for equal work! On the road toward gender economic equality” – e-learning training material for employees and interest representation organisations. Available at http://www.equalgender.eu/.
Handbooks:
“Promotion of gender equality in adult training”. More information available at http://equal.nfu.hu/main.php?folderID=1043&objectID=5002715)
Handbook on the theory and practice of gender equality for managers of institutions and enterprises to assist in taking gender into consideration. Available at: http://equal.nfu.hu/main.php?folderID=1043&objectID=5002709
Dissemination
• Regional training in Zala county
• Conference in Budapest
• Seminar for civil servants
• Websites
• Printed handbooks to trade unions, employer organisations, NGOs
5. Commentary
5.1. Please provide your own assessment and comments on the initiatives to address the gender pay gap covered by this comparative study, including any further information that you consider important to illustrate the state-of-play of pay equity in your country.
The state-of-art of pay equity in Hungary has not been considered as first priority neither by social partners (employer or employee organisations), nor by the government. Nevertheless, various steps have been taken in this area during the last few years.
The reality is that gender pay gap exists and the national average covers a very uneven picture. The extent of gender pay gap varies greatly by occupation, sector, age, education, region, number of children, status (white collar, blue collar, managerial status) at workplace, firm size, etc. It means that adequate policy measures against pay gap require a deeper analysis. Furthermore, it requires not only collecting the relevant statistical data but also to investigate the reasons
It can be evaluated as an achievement that beside the official statistical data (showing 11% of national pay gap for 2005) an alternative (representative) database with 10,000 items was built up within the framework of an EQUAL project. According to the WageIndicator (Bérbarométer) database the gross average wage gap of was 20.8% in 2007, while the net average wage gap 17.7% the same year. Within the same EQUAL project the Oaxaca-Blinder factor decomposition (the differentiation between the structural causes and the discrimination) was also carried out. As part of the measures to implement EU gender policy (Roadmap) an “equal pay for equal work”, a working group was set up by the government.
To decrease the gender pay gap attention should be paid to findings such as: women with higher education have to face a higher level of discrimination; the length of working life increases the discrimination effect, as well as the higher nuber of men than women in a workplace. Professional segregation proved to be a further important (structural) factor in the creation of gender pay gap.
To put the issue of gender pay gap at the proper place would require further sensibilisation and further (independent) data collection – including decomposition of factors -in an attempt to take a closer look of the tendencies since 2007, including the factor decomposition.
Main findings concerning the gender pay gap:
In Hungary today the gender pay gap is 17.7 percent , which means , that men's average income is significantly higher than that of women. We can state this value is generally representative of the European comparison. After breaking-off of the disparity it is showing a surprising outcome: the structural effects result in negative income' rate (- 7.2% ). This means that if there were not any discrimination, as outcome of the structural effects the men's income would be lower than women's. This structural effect however not merely be compensated by the very high (26.9%) discrimination effect, but entirely reversed into the opposite direction and as an outcome, the women’s average income is lower by 17,7% than that of men.
The discriminatory effect of the school qualifications obtained is very significant: a woman who has the higher education has to face higher discrimination. . The job experience, namely the length of the working life strengthen the discrimination to a woman's disadvantage. In other words, with increasing length of working life men’s income is rising faster, than the women's. The discrimination effect is also strong in case of the women's proportion in organization variable. Where the women's proportion in the offices is large the discrimination is small. Otherwise in workplaces where men outnumber women the discrimination is rather high. We also find discrimination in case of offices with collective bargaining agreement. This effect is due to the fact that in the men-dominated organizations the collective agreements are more frequent. These outcomes can provide a starting base to further analyses. They show those target groups within which it is necessary to examine the discrimination. These findings are based on the analysis of 10000 item data survey in the labor market in 2006-2007. We applied the decomposition method of Oaxaca and Blinder to our data first in Hungary.
Szilvia Borbély, Economic and Social Institute of Trade Unions (SZGTI)