The indicator measures 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. All employees working in firms with ten or more employees, without restrictions for age and hours worked, are included.
Estonia's pay gap was the largest at 21.7 % in 2019, with Latvia just behind on 21.2 %. Lithuania did much better on 13.3 %. The smallest difference between male and female pay rates was registered in Luxembourg at just 1.3 %.
While in most countries the gap has been narrowing, in Latvia it has been getting wider. In 2018 the gap was 19.6 % and as recently as 2011 it was 14.1 %.
However, it should be noted that the figures are provisional and according to an Estonian central bank economist the EU agency's assessment is based on a different sample and fails to consider small businesses that are quite prominent in smaller countries like Estonia and Latvia.
You can vew the full data set via the link below.
Gender pay gap in unadjusted form [SDG_05_20__custom_929505]