The gender pay gap, abbreviated as GPG, refers to the difference in average hourly wages between men and women. The unadjusted gender pay gap is calculated as the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of male and female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees. It is a measure across all jobs and characteristics in Ireland, not of the difference in pay between men and women doing the same job. The mean earnings in 2022 for males were €27.73 with 35.7 mean paid weekly hours while the mean earnings for females was €25.06 with 30.1 mean paid weekly hours.
The GPG in Ireland for 2022 was 9.6% i.e., the average male earned 9.6% more than the average female. There is much variation in the GPG when considering various characteristics such as economic sector, firm size, length of service, public/private status, full-time/part-time status, occupation, education, age, nationality, and region. There is also variation in mean paid weekly hours with male employees working on average 35.7 hours and females working 30.1 hours, a 15.7% difference.
In economic sectors the highest GPG was in the financial, insurance and real estate sector at 24.7%, average hourly earnings of €41.93 for males and €31.59 for females. The lowest GPG was in the education sector at 2.7% where males earned €36.64 and females earned €35.65 on average per hour.
Full-time male employees earned €29.36 while full-time female employees earned €27.30 on average an hour, males in full-time employment earned 7% more than females in full-time employment. The GPG is reversed for part-time workers. Part-time male employees earned €19.70 and females earned €21.05 on average an hour, therefore male part-time employees earned 6.9% less than their part-time female counterparts. The GPG for all employees is higher than either full-time or part-time, this is because part-time workers are predominantly females. (See Table 3.1).
While the official measure of the GPG is average differences in earnings between males and females, the median GPG also provides useful and additional insight into differences in earnings between genders. In Ireland, the median GPG for 2022 was 5.5%. Supplementary tables with median GPG comparisons are available throughout this section. (See Table 3.2).
In general as firm size increases the GPG decreases The highest GPG was recorded in firm sizes of 10-49 employees at 20.7%, with male employees earning €23.73 and female employees earning €18.81. The firm size with the lowest GPG was enterprises with 1000+ employees at 4.1%, where males earned €33.07 and females earned €31.70 on average an hour. (See Table 3.3).
Length of service offers a further understanding of the GPG. As years of service increase in the short to medium term the GPG decreases but in the longer run the GPG begins to rise again. The lowest GPG for 1-4 years of service is 2% with average earnings per hour of €19.61 for males and €19.21 for females. This rises to 15.6% (Males - €34.93, Females - €29.49) for those with 20-29 years’ service and then falls to 10.8% for those with 30 or more years of service. (See Table 3.5).
Occupation and education also provide useful insights into the GPG breakdown with large disparities between occupations and educational attainment. Males in skilled trade occupations earned 24% more than females in the same occupation with average hourly earnings of €21.35 and €16.23. Males working in the process, plant and machine operatives occupation category earned 0.4% less than females at €20.22 and €20.31 an hour on average.
Looking at education, the highest GPG of 23.6% was for employees with a primary education, with males earning €19.64 and females earning €15.00 an hour on average. The GPG was lowest for females with a doctorate PHD or higher (7.7%) with males earning €47.96 and females earning €44.26 on average an hour. (See Table 3.7 and Table 3.9).
The GPG for those aged 15-24 was -0.2% with females earning €17.57 on average an hour compared with €17.54 for male. From the age of 25 the GPG increases with each age category up to the highest of 16.7% (males €33.03 and females €27.51) in the 50-59 age group. The GPG then decreases to 14.1% for the 60 and over age group (males €28.46 and €24.45). (See Table 3.11).
The CSO’s Gender Balance in Business survey 2023 results show that gender representation in top management teams and boards of directors are predominately males. This in part, helps to explain the increase in the GPG with age.
The breakdown by nationality groups shows that the GPG varies substantially between these groups. The highest is for UK nationals at 27% (Males - €32.71, Females - €23.88), which is the highest GPG by any characteristic breakdown. This is due to a higher proportion of male UK nationals working in higher paying sectors compared with female UK nationals.
Irish nationals recorded the lowest GPG of any nationality group provided at 7.5% (Males €28.09, Females €25.98). The spread of Irish nationals across economic sectors contributes to a lower GPG, although a higher proportion of male Irish nationals tend to be employed in the higher paying sectors compared to females who represent a higher proportion of the lower paying sectors. (See Table 3.13).
There is a reasonable amount of variance in the GPG between regions. The Mid-East has the highest GPG at 14.2% (Males - €28.64, Females - €24.58) and the South-East had the lowest at 0.3% (Males - €24.47, Females - €24.40). (See Table 3.15).
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