Women earn an average of 4,700 euros a year less than men, according to Gestha

22 Feb. () –

Women earn an average of 4,713 euros less per year than men, according to the report ‘Salary gap and glass ceiling’ of technicians from the Ministry of Finance (Gestha) published on the Day for Equal Salary.

According to the latest data available, the wage gap increased by 120 euros during 2021, 2.6% more, as the number of people affected by ERTE Covid decreased and women spent more time than men on care at the end of the confinement of the pandemic.

In percentage terms, according to Gestha, women would have to earn 25.5% more to equal the salary of men, as shown by the latest data from the AEAT.

Gestha recognizes, however, that the increase in the SMI between 2019 and 2021 is “significantly” reducing the wage gap, so that, at this rate, the period to end these inequalities has been reduced by 68%, to 40 years -from 125 years at the rate between 2004 and 2019-, so there is still a long way to work in favor of equality.

At a geographical level, the salary differences are “especially significant” in the Community of Madrid, where women earn 7,511 euros less on average. On the contrary, the most egalitarian autonomy in this sense would be the Canary Islands, where the salary differences escalate to just over 1,956 euros.

The technicians explain that the grievances of the wage gap are concentrated in the three highest salary brackets. In fact, while women earn between 116 and 153 euros more than men in the range that oscillates between 20,055 and 33,425 euros of annual salary, they receive almost 40,381 euros less when the salaries are above 133,700 euros per anus.

For the Treasury technicians, the main reasons for the wage gap would be precariousness and the glass ceiling, since almost four million women would not receive the amount of the SMI in the whole year, that is, 54.1 % of total employed.

In addition, they highlight that the occupation of women decreases as the level of remuneration of the jobs increases, so that the presence of women falls clearly below 40% in paid positions starting at 46,800 euros, until occupying less of a quarter of the positions of more than 100,000 euros, or being just over two women in every ten management positions that earn more than 133,700 euros per year.

For this reason, Gestha asks the Government to continue taking measures against the wage gap, reinforcing the budget allocation to increase the number of places in public infant schools from 0 to 3 years of age and places in specialized centers for care and care of the elderly or dependents. In his opinion, the differences in salary “are aggravated above all in the ages in which maternity and care for the elderly are concentrated, so that the largest inequality is located when over 65 years of age, reaching 10,763 euros” .

According to the general secretary of Gestha, José María Mollinedo, the successive increases in the minimum wage contribute to reducing the wage gap, but it is also necessary to promote greater participation of women at work, a cultural change so that both parents are involved in the reconciliation and breaking the glass ceiling through a more egalitarian professional promotion, issues that should be part of a State Pact.