Screen Shot 2015-03-06 at 09.45.01

Screengrab from new Eurostat study

The Irish Times reports:

“The pay gap between men and women in Ireland has widened in recent years, with women earning 14.4 per cent less than men for their work, most recent figures show.”

“Data from Eurostat, the European Union’s official statistics body, reveal women earned almost a sixth less per hour than men in 2012, up from 12.6 per cent in 2008.”

There you go now.

Pay gap between men and women in Ireland up to 14.4% (Irish Times)

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28 thoughts on “How Much?

  1. Don Pidgeoni

    Something something children, something something part-time work, something something Una Mullaly

    There, that should cover it

  2. Jonotti

    The more years you spend working, the more you earn on average. Women have less work experience than men on average. Case closed.

  3. Dubloony

    Is there ever an exact comparison done e.g. first year accountancy, 10 years in banking, part-time cleaners, male and female plumbers, carpenters, bricklayers, doctors, nurses, porters, teachers and so on?

    Unless there is sectoral breakdown done, not sure how useful this is. Not every woman is in a constant state of having babies.

    Also, needs to be broken down by age – would older people be more affected by overhang of cultural barriers, younger people less so?

    1. Jane

      I’d say Eurostat are probably reasonably well positioned to make like for like comparisons across job types, levels of experience and ages of employees. They probably have a vague idea of what makes up a valid comparison, possibly even better than randoms on the internet.

      1. Odis

        “I’d say Eurostat are probably reasonably well positioned to make like for like” – speaking as someone who has often had to dream up data for them, “as part of my job” – I wouldn’t share your overreaching faith.

    2. Lorcan Nagle

      There’s been a few in the news recently. Women tend to earn less then men in the same graduate positions.

  4. cosine_beag

    From the press release:

    “The gender pay gap (GPG) in unadjusted form represents the difference between average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees and of female paid employees as a percentage of average gross hourly earnings of male paid employees, in the sectors of industry, construction and services (except public administration, defense, compulsory social security). The indicator has been defined as unadjusted (e.g. not adjusted according to individual characteristics that may explain part of the earnings difference) because it should give an overall picture of gender inequalities in terms of pay. The gender pay gap is the consequence of various inequalities (structural differences) in the labour market such as different working patterns, differences in institutional mechanisms and systems of wage setting. Consequently, the pay gap is linked to a number of legal, social and economic factors which go far beyond the single issue of equal pay for equal work.”

  5. Eoghany

    Women still in this modern era spend less time in the workplace – out of a 40 year working life- because of choices they make with regard to rearing families. (Scoff all you like, but rightly or wrongly this is the truth). So I would expect overall, that women would be paid less. This works both ways. If I as a man, was doing the same job as a woman in the workplace, but I had 5 years less experience, I would expect that she should be paid more.

    1. Weedless

      You might expect that but that doesn’t mean it’s true. And women don’t get much of a choice when it comes to rearing children because Ireland doesn’t have any sort of paternity leave let alone a more progressive system of parental leave that can be shared between the two parents.

  6. K Quinn

    I know a good few women who took a few years off because the found they were just working for the taxman and the childminder, then when the kids were teenagers they went back to work and found, naturally enough, that they simply did not have the same level of experience and career development as their male peers who had been in work all those years, weren’t as valuable to their employers (both male and female employers) as their male peers, and weren’t paid as much.

    There’s the pay gap for you.

    1. Weedless

      That’s a vicious circle Ireland’s lack of paternity leave and the fact that women on average earn less means they’re more likely to be the ones to stop work if a couple can’t afford childcare.

  7. markgdub

    FFS, why wasn’t this used to churn out another, “Ireland beats England at rugby and GB in two surveys!” article?

    They may have reduced the gap by 1pp but women employed in GB can expect 19% less than there male colleagues vs. 14% here.

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