THE SINGLE most important factor perpetuating the pay gap between men and women is family responsibilities, research being published today shows.
The Gender Wage Gap in Irelandreport from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) is the fifth in a series of reports arising from the Research Programme on Equality and Discrimination, commissioned by the Equality Authority.
Based on data from the 2003 National Employment Survey, it draws on data taken at the height of the boom, a time when equity in the workplace might have been expected to be improving. It finds the “raw” gap between men’s and women’s hourly wages was about 22 per cent for all employees. About two-thirds of this gap was due to “observable” differences between male and female workers.
These included levels of education and labour market experience. Women tended to have higher levels of education, but men had more labour market experience, due to the fact they tended not take time out for “care duties”.
“When account was taken of such factors, the remaining adjusted wage gap was close to 8 per cent.”
Dr Seán McGuinness, co-author of the report, said taking time out of her career had two impacts on a woman’s earning potential.
“Her skills get degraded while she’s out of the labour market, and then when she re-enters after a number of years she tends not to go back in at the level she left.”
He said this had implications for women’s pensions, as these were linked to life-time earnings.
The pay gap for part-time employees was about 6 per cent, but when other observable factors were taken into account the gap widened to 10 per cent.
“This suggests that part-time female workers are on the whole more qualified and experienced than their male counterparts.”
Among all workers, higher education among women helped reduce the wage gap, “but this factor alone was not sufficient to compensate for the effects of labour market experience. Many other factors – such as higher incidence of trade union membership among men and higher incidence of part-time work among women – also widened the gap.”
Looking at wage gaps across sectors, the authors found raw differences were broadly similar. When adjusted to take account of “observable” factors – education and time out of the labour market – there were large variations.
The adjusted gap ranged from 1.8 per cent in clerical work to 21.2 per cent for plant operatives.
The data suggested the most significant way in which the gender pay gap might be bridged would be policies which allowed men and women to take on care work, without being penalised for doing so. “Career breaks, which allow people to maintain their position while away from the formal labour market, would appear to be the most effective way of doing this,” said Dr McGuinness.
Currently, the most widely available type of flexible working arrangement was part-time work, which was mainly taken up by women with care responsibilities, and in which they tended to earn less than less-qualified male counterparts.
