Canton of ZurichStatistics

UNECE Work Session on Gender StatisticsGeneva 12-14 March 2012

Gender Pay Gap and Wage Discrimination in the Greater Zurich Region

Roman Pageroman.page@statistik.ji.zh.ch

2Gender Pay Gap and Wage Discrimination in the Greater Zurich Region

Statistics Canton of Zurich and the Office for Gender Equality jointly analyze

the gender-specific development of the wages (median wages),

the gender pay gap (difference between median earnings of men and women relative to median earnings of men) and

the wage discrimination (Regression model and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition) in the private sector of the Greater Zurich Region

with data from the Swiss Earnings Structure Surveys (SESS)

Additional facts & figures from various FSO data sources as the Labor Force Survey, Business Census, Population Census, etc. broken down by sex

BackgroundMonitoring the implementation of the gender equality policy Canton of Zurich

3Gender Pay Gap and Wage Discrimination in the Greater Zurich Region

…in Switzerland 19.4%.

Gender Pay Gap 2002-2010In 2008, women in the Greater Zurich Region earned 25.0% less than men (unadjusted)…

Source: Swiss Earnings Structure Survey. Analysis & Graphic: Statistics Canton of Zurich

.

2002 2004 2006 2008 20100

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

5143 50825238 5221 5363

6552 65996760

6958 7042

5966 59696134 6236 6336

Women

Men

Total

Gro

ss m

on

thly

ear

nin

gs

in C

HF

-23.8%

-25.0%

-22.5%-23.0%

-21.5%

4Gender Pay Gap and Wage Discrimination in the Greater Zurich Region

… average part time wages (converted to full time) are 19% lower than full time wages.

Part time penalty 19% 31% of the persons employed work part time, in the group of women 52%, in the group of men 13%…

Source: Swiss Earnings Structure Survey. Analysis & Graphic: Statistics Canton of Zurich

5Gender Pay Gap and Wage Discrimination in the Greater Zurich Region

Female labor market participation 2008Self-selection effect?

Source: Swiss Earnings Structure Survey, Swiss Labor Force Survey. Analysis: Statistics Canton of Zurich

The high gender pay gap in the Greater Zurich Region (25%) is accompanied by a

high rate of female labor market participation (76% employment rate of women),

a high rate of female part time work (52%) and

a high female employment rate for women with lower education (62%)

high percentage of female low wage employees (63%), low percentage of female high wage employees (15%)

6Gender Pay Gap and Wage Discrimination in the Greater Zurich Region

…women with the same human capital endowment as men earned in average 9% less (adjusted).

Wage Discrimination 200836% of the wage gap cannot be explained by means of the applied regression model…

Source: Swiss Earnings Structure Survey. Analysis & Graphic: Statistics Canton of Zurich

Men Women Wage gap0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

6958

5221

1737 = 25%

625 = 9%

Median wage Wage gap Explainable wage gap Unexplainable wage gap

Gro

ss m

onth

ly e

arni

ngs

in C

HF

UnadjustedPay Gap

Adjusted PayGap

7Gender Pay Gap and Wage Discrimination in the Greater Zurich Region

…adjusted gender pay gap slightly decreased (-0.3 pp).

Development 2002-2010Unadjusted gender pay gap increased over the last decade (+2.8 pp), but discrimination effect decreased (-10 pp)…

Source: Swiss Earnings Structure Survey. Analysis & Table: Statistics Canton of Zurich

2002 2004 2006 2008 2010

Gender pay gap(unadjusted)

21.5% 23.0% 22,5% 25.0% 23,8%

Endowment effectShare of explainable gap

58% 62% 66% 64% 68%

Discrimination effectShare of unexplainable gap

42% 38% 34% 36% 32%

Gender pay gap(adjusted)

9.0% 8.7% 7.7% 9.0% 8.7%

8Gender Pay Gap and Wage Discrimination in the Greater Zurich Region

…Financial sector shows biggest gender pay gap (33%), but below average wage discrimination (31%).

Economic branches 2008High gender pay gap does not automatically correlate with high wage discrimination…

Source: Swiss Earnings Structure Survey. Analysis & Graphic: Statistics Canton of Zurich

0 10 20 30 40

0

20

40

60

80

100

Gender wage gap in %

Pro

port

ion

of u

nexp

lain

able

wag

e ga

p in

%Construction

Food

Retail

PublishingGastroTransport

Machinery

Wholesale

Financial sector

Healths & SocialIT

Mean all branches (36%)

Mean all branches (25%)

9Gender Pay Gap and Wage Discrimination in the Greater Zurich Region

Thank you for your attention!

Online:

www.statistik.zh.chStatistics Canton of Zurichwww.ffg.zh.chOffice for Gender Equality Canton of Zurich

Roman PageStatistics Canton of Zurichroman.page@statistik.ji.zh.ch