On average, women are still paid less for their work than men. The differences are particularly large in Baden-Württemberg. Why is that?
According to an analysis, women in Baden-Württemberg still earn less than men on average. In 2022, the so-called gender pay gap averaged 6.08 euros per hour or 23 percent, as the State Statistical Office announced on Monday. This means that the wage gap in the south-west is significantly wider than the national average: Germany-wide, the gender pay gap was 4.31 euros or 18 percent last year.
According to a study by the Nuremberg Institute for Labor Market and Vocational Research (IAB), women in the Lake Constance district lag behind men in terms of earnings by as much as 39.9 percent.
With the adjusted gender pay gap, which eliminates structural differences between the gender groups, the difference in earnings in a comparable professional position and situation in Baden-Württemberg was seven percent in 2022 and thus remained almost unchanged compared to 2018.
How do the differences come about?
Different sectors, professions and requirement levels as well as part-time work are the reasons for the wage difference, explained the statistics authority on the international day of action for equal pay between men and women (Equal Pay Day) on March 7th.
According to the IAB researchers, women are more likely to work in service, health and social occupations. “Jobs in these areas are usually associated with lower earnings than in jobs that are often performed by men,” said Anja Rossen from the regional research network of the IAB.
However, the gender pay gap was small for employees in the 15 to 30 age group. While women aged 17 and 18 earned on average more than a fifth more than men, the average gross hourly earnings of men in the age group between 21 and 23 and between 25 and 28 years was slightly higher than that of women, as the state office further announced.
From the age of 29, the wage gap increases
The wage gap widened in the 29-year-old age group: on average, men earned 6.0 percent more gross per hour than women. The state office stated as a statement that on average women become mothers for the first time at the age of 29.2 – many of them then went on parental leave with cuts in income.
From the age of 31, the difference in earnings increased almost continuously, the statisticians determined.
The tax system also favors marriages between housewives and those earning additional wages, criticized Maren Diebel-Ebers, Deputy Head of the German Trade Union Confederation in the southwest. This is a “big annoyance”. Here, contemporary and gender-equitable models are finally needed.
