The gender employment gap (which is not to be confused with the gender pay gap) is defined as the difference between the employment rates of men and women aged 20 to 64. The employment rate is calculated by dividing the number of people aged 20 to 64 in employment by the total population of the same age group. The indicator is based on the EU Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS).
By that measure, in 2023 Latvia actually had the fourth-smallest gender employment gap in the EU at 3.1%. Notably, the top three countries are Finland (0.2%), Lithuania (1.5%) and Estonia (2.4).
The EU average is 9.9%.
Latvia's gender employment gap has fluctuated over the years. In 2022 the rate was also 3.1%, while a year before that in 2021 it was 4.8%. In contrast, during the economic crisis back in 2010 it briefly went negative (-0.6%) with more women employed than men.
