According to a study on ‘Women and men – work and life partnership’ published by the Romanian National Institute of Statistics at the end of 2012, the pay gap between women and men increased at national level from 8 to 12 percentage points between 2008 and 2011. The figures reveal significant differences across economic sectors, age groups, level of educational attainment and major occupational groups. The financial and economic crisis can also be seen to have had an impact.
The study, ‘Women and men – work and life partnership’, published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) at the end of 2012 uses data collected during various INS surveys to analyse the gender pay gap in Romania. The study looks at:
The chapter on ‘people’s income’ devotes a section to a salary distribution by gender based on data drawn mainly from three studies:
Data from the ‘Survey on labour costs’ indicate that the financial and economic crisis caused a negligible rise in the gross average salary earned by men from €493 in October 2008 to €495 in October 2011, and a drop from €462 in October 2008 to €436 in October 2011 of the gross average salary earned by women (The euro figures are based on the annual average exchange rate of the National Bank of Romania, BNR, for RON to EUR.)
The differences between men’s and women’s earnings vary with economic sector, age group, level of educational attainment and occupation.
Data from the ‘Survey on salaries in October’ show that, across the entire Romanian economy, the gap between women’s and men’s gross monthly average salaries widened from 8 percentage points in 2008 to 12 percentage points in 2011. The greatest differentials to the benefit of men in 2011 were seen in ‘financial intermediation and insurance’, followed by ‘industry’ and ‘other services’ (Table 1).
| Economic sectors | 2008 | 2010 | 2011 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial intermediation and insurance | 25 | 21 | 29 |
| Industry | 28 | 27 | 27 |
| Other services | 27 | 21 | 22 |
| Retail | 20 | 12 | 16 |
| Information and communication | 15 | 18 | 14 |
| Health | 14 | 14 | 13 |
| Total Romania | 8 | 13 | 12 |
| Hotels and restaurants | 19 | 12 | 12 |
| Education | 13 | 13 | 11 |
| Entertainment, cultural and recreational activities | 14 | 6 | 9 |
| Real estate activities | 10 | 9 | 7 |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 5 | 3 | 5 |
| Professional, scientific and technical activities | -4 | 2 | 2 |
| Public administration | 5 | 6 | 1 |
| Transport and storage | -1 | 0 | -11 |
| Construction | -17 | -17 | -24 |
| Administrative and support services | -24 | -21 | -27 |
Note: Differential in favour of men
Source: ‘Survey on salaries in October’, INS, various editions
The gap is wider and tending to grow in favour of women in sectors such as ‘construction’, ‘services’ and ‘support activities’. The narrowest gap to the advantage of men is in ‘public administration’.
Data from the ‘Survey on the structure of salary earnings’ reveal that, in 2010, the lowest earnings calculated as a ratio to the annual gross average salary at national level were obtained by women in the 15–24 age group and the highest earnings were obtained by men in the 55–64 age group (Table 2).
| Age bracket | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| All ages | 103.0 | 96.7 | 100.0 |
| 15–24 | 61.4 | 59.3 | 60.4 |
| 25–54 | 103.0 | 97.4 | 100.3 |
| 55–64 | 122.3 | 115.7 | 119.9 |
Note: National annual gross average salary = 100.0
Source: Survey on the structure of salary earnings 2011, INS
In percentage points, the difference between men’s and women’s annual gross average salaries increased with age, from 2.1 in the 15–24 age group, to 5.6 in the 25–54 age group, and to 6.6 in the 55–64 age group.
As a ratio to national annual gross average salary earnings (100.0), women holding a secondary graduation certificate earned 49.5% in 2010 compared with 58.6% for men with a similar level of education (Table 3).
| Level of educational attainment | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 103.0 | 96.7 | 100.0 |
| Secondary, general | 58.6 | 49.5 | 54.4 |
| Secondary, vocational | 79.1 | 57.9 | 72.9 |
| Post-secondary (high school) | 80.4 | 68.9 | 74.8 |
| Tertiary, short-term (bachelor) | 140.5 | 115.0 | 126.0 |
| Tertiary, long-term (master) | 182.1 | 157.6 | 168.5 |
| Post-academic | 260.3 | 239.2 | 250.1 |
Note: National annual gross average salary = 100.0
Source: Survey on the structure of salary earnings 2011, INS
Male holders of a master’s degree earned 1.8 times more money than the national average in 2010, while women in the same educational group earned only 1.6 times more than the national average.
In 2010, the highest annual salaries across the entire national economy were earned by women in Major occupational group 1 (that is, Members of Parliament, government, high-rank public administration officers and so on), who received 268% of the national average salary. The lowest annual earnings were obtained by unskilled female workers (45.8% of the national average salary) (Table 4).
| Major occupational group | Men | Women | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Members of Parliament, government, high-rank public administration officers, and so on | 258.0 | 268.1 |
| 2 | Experts in various sectors | 158.0 | 140.5 |
| 3 | Technicians and other technical experts | 112.5 | 98.7 |
| 4 | Public servants | 90.4 | 93.0 |
| 5 | Services workers | 53.2 | 50.2 |
| 6 | Skilled workers in agriculture, forestry, fishing | 54.5 | 49.6 |
| 7 | Skilled labourers and persons of equivalent qualification | 85.8 | 64.0 |
| 8 | Operators of machinery, equipment, and assembly lines | 88.7 | 69.2 |
| 9 | Unskilled labour | 47.2 | 45.8 |
Note: National annual gross average salary = 100.0
Source: Survey on the structure of salary earnings 2011, INS
In 2010, the ratio between the highest and the lowest annual gross earnings, by occupational sub-groups (that is, between the earnings of female high-rank public administration officers and businesswomen, and the earnings of male assistant cooks) was 8.4:1.
If viewed as a comparison of equalities/differences between the sexes, the results emerging from these different surveys open a multi-dimensional perspective of a large spectrum.
In most cases, salary discrepancies between the sexes are in favour of male workers and the economic crisis of recent years has increased the difference.
However, there are exceptions to this general picture. In 2011, for instance, female workers in the mining industry, electric power production and distribution, transport and warehousing, administrative and support services, and in construction received better pay than male workers.
Constantin Ciutacu, Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy