JOBS: Romanian women to close EU “gender pay gap” first

 * Cyprus 12th in the rankings with a pay gap closure of 2029 *

Expert Market, Europe’s leading B2B marketplace, has conducted new research into the factors that affect the gender pay gap in the EU. By modelling current pay gap trends into the future for five economic factors – hours worked, sector (public v private), age, industry and job type – they have identified both the countries and the groups of women who will see the gender pay gap close quickest.

 
Surprisingly, Romania took the top spot with a potential gender pay gap closure date of 2018 with women aged between 25 and 34, working a skilled manual role within the private hospitality industry most likely to achieve equal pay first.
In all of the top performing nations, the quickest routes to gender pay equality favoured women currently aged 34 or under and who worked in some capacity for the government or in the electricity and energy sector.
Cypriot women finished twelfth in the rankings with a pay gap closure date of 2029.
This favoured women aged under 25 or between 35-44 who had a sales or service role within the health and social work sector.
At the opposite end of the table, Hungary has the slowest rate of pay gap closure in Europe with even the quickest route to equal pay not occurring until 2068.
Britain’s quickest pay gap closure is 2067 and Portugal’s is 2068.
Together with the UK, Germany and France are among the slowest nations to close the gender pay gap.
Women working for the government or in the energy sector will see pay gap close first on average.
“Although it is troubling to see the gender pay gap persisting in the EU, it is encouraging to see several potential closure dates in the near future. This research indicates that the traditional European powers – U.K., France and Germany – could be doing more to help close the gender pay gap,” said Michael Horrocks from Expert Market.