The unadjusted gender pay gap shows the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of men and women expressed as a percentage of the average gross hourly earnings of men. This indicator was calculated for enterprises with 10 or more employees.
In 2020, women's gross hourly earnings were on average 13.0% below those of men in the EU. In the space of eight years, between 2012 and 2020, the EU gender pay gap was reduced from 16.4% to 13.0%.
However, the largest differences were observed in Latvia (22.3%), Estonia (21.1%), Austria (18.9%) and Germany (18.3%).
At the other end of the scale, the differences were smallest in Luxembourg (0.7%), Romania (2.4%), Slovenia (3.1%), and Italy (4.2%).
"As an unadjusted indicator, the gender pay gap gives an overall picture of the differences between men and women in terms of earnings and measures – a concept which is broader than discrimination in the sense of "equal pay for work of equal value". Parts of the difference in earnings of men and women can be explained by differences in the average characteristics of male and female employees and differences in the financial returns for the same characteristics," Eurostat said.
