Official figures from Luxembourg's STATEC statistical service, issued in February 2002, indicate that the pay gap between men and women is narrowing fast.
Download article in original language : LU0203101NFR.DOC
Official figures from Luxembourg's STATEC statistical service, issued in February 2002, indicate that the pay gap between men and women is narrowing fast.
Until recently, the latest official data on pay differentials between women and men in Luxembourg came from the 1995 pay structure survey conducted by the Central Statistics and Economic Studies Service (Service central de la statistique et des études économiques, STATEC) and published in 1997 (LU9803148F). The figures indicated that average gross hourly pay for women was 15% lower than that for men. A study by the Centre d'Etudes de Populations, de Pauvreté et de Politiques Socio-Economiques/International Networks for Studies in Technology, Environment, Alternatives, Development (CEPS/INSTEAD) subsequently examined these statistics in detail, and concluded that after all factors with a significant impact on pay variations had been neutralised, the pay differential between men and women was 11%. It was acknowledged that the data on which the study was based had not measured the effect of the length of careers correctly. This is a key factor, as the gender pay differential for white-collar workers under 30 years of age was only 6%.
In early February 2002, at a conference organised by the Minister of Women's Promotion on 'Equal pay: the challenge of democratic and economic development', a STATEC representative presented updated figures for 2000 that showed that the situation for women was changing. The study found that in 2000, as far as blue-collar workers were concerned, the wage gap between men and women had narrowed by between 66% and 84%, depending on the economic sector. Among white-collar staff, the gap had narrowed by 65%-72%. For white-collar administrative workers and intermediary professions, pay differentials between women and men now range from 4% to 6%, while the gender pay gap for skilled blue-collar workers still stands at 26%.
While there continue to be disparities between the earnings of men and women employees, changes in the structure of the female workforce have taken place in recent years. The proportion of executives and senior managers who are women rose from 3% in 1991 to 13% in 2000.
According to figures for March 2001 provided by the Department of Social Security, over 36,000 men and women, both white- and blue-collar workers, were in receipt of the minimum wage. Some 20% of women employees were paid the minimum wage; a percentage that has not changed since 1996. The figure for men is approximately 10%. The commerce and hotels/restaurants/cafés sectors account for the largest proportion of minimum wage recipients, with about half of the female employees and almost a third of male employees being paid the minimum wage.
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2002), Gender pay gap narrows, article.
