Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

Minimum wage—yet another gender divide?

Carlos Vacas-Soriano 28th October 2021

The number of minimum-wage earners has increased across Europe over the last decade—and they are more likely to be women.

minimum-wage earners,gender divide
Rendered invisible? Most minimum-wage workers are women (Motortion Films / shutterstock.com)

Despite the progress in statutory minimum wages across many European Union member states over the last decade, there are important divides. In 2019, around 7 per cent of employees in the EU were statutory minimum-wage earners—earning no more than 10 per cent above or below the minimum wage rate in each member state. Across countries, this rate ranges from 10-15 per cent in some central- and eastern-European member states (Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Lithuania) and Portugal to less than 4 per cent in Czechia, the Netherlands and Slovenia. 

Against a background of generally notable minimum-wage hikes in many member states over the last decade—with statutory rates growing faster than average wages in most cases—a growing share of employees have fallen within the range of statutory minimum-wage levels. The 7 per cent proportion of minimum-wage earners in the EU is an increase from 5.5 per cent in 2010. 

This expansion has occurred especially in those member states where minimum-wage levels have progressed most, notably in central and eastern Europe (Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Slovakia). There have been significant increases also in Spain, Portugal and the UK, following notable minimum-wage rises in recent years, as well as in Germany after the introduction of its statutory minimum wage in 2015.

Gender divide    

While this might seem an increasingly positive picture, further investigation reveals a significant gender divide: more women earn less. 


Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content. We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Sign up here

In the EU, there is a higher percentage of minimum-wage earners among female employees (8.7 per cent) than among males (5 per cent) and women account for more than 60 per cent of all minimum-wage earners. In almost every member state, more than half of the total number of minimum-wage earners are women—in some countries, this rate reaches two-thirds, for example in Slovakia, Czechia, Belgium and Latvia (Figure 1). Given the fact that they typically make up less than 50 per cent of the workforce, women are significantly over-represented in this category.

Figure 1: share of minimum wage earners, by gender and share of women among minimum wage earners (%)

minimum-wage earners,gender divide
Source: EU-SILC, 2019. Countries are ranked by the share of total minimum wage earners, from higher to lower, left to right. Data for Ireland and the UK refer to the EU-SILC 2018 wave. The EU aggregate excludes member states without statutory minimum wages (not depicted) and refers to the EU-SILC 2018 wave to include Ireland and the UK.

Minimum-wage earners are typically found in the lower-paying sectors (hotels, restaurants and catering, retail, health and other service activities) and occupations (elementary occupations and service and sales workers). This is especially the case for female minimum-wage earners, since women are more likely to work in these lowest-paid sectors and occupations.

Education and industry and office-based clerical occupations are other areas where female minimum-wage earners may be typically employed. Male minimum-wage earners, on the other hand, are often found in industry and manufacturing, as well as in occupations such as craft and trades and among plant and machine operators.

Materially deprived

Women are over-represented in the minimum-wage bracket and minimum-wage workers are much more likely to live in materially-deprived households. Fifteen per cent of minimum-wage earners in the EU live in such households, compared with 6 per cent among other employees (Figure 2).

A household measure of material deprivation captures the capacity of the household to afford several items considered desirable to enjoy adequate living standards, such as being able to pay the rent, keep the house warm, face unexpected expenses, go on holidays and have a washing machine or a telephone. 

Across countries, the proportion of employees affected by household material deprivation varies greatly—from above 20 per cent in some central- and eastern-European member states (Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia), as well as Greece and Malta, to below 10 per cent in the Benelux countries and Germany.

Figure 2: share of employees living in materially deprived households (%)

minimum-wage earners,gender divide
Source: EU-SILC, 2019. Countries are ranked by the share of minimum wage earners living in deprived households, from higher to lower, left to right. Data for Ireland and the UK refer to the EU-SILC 2018 wave. The EU aggregate excludes member states without statutory minimum wages (not depicted) and refers to the EU-SILC 2018 wave to include Ireland and the UK.

Household material deprivation is a complex phenomenon caused by many factors. Studies have highlighted joblessness of other household members—rather than low wages—as the main one in Europe. Nevertheless, Eurofound data show that minimum-wage earners are much more affected than employees earning higher wages across all member states. And minimum-wage earners—and the materially deprived households in which they are more likely to live—are especially vulnerable to economic downturns.

The pandemic has already taken a disproportionate toll on women across many areas and this is likely to continue. Policy-makers need a comprehensive strategy—comprising not only statutory minimum-wage rates but also, among other things, social benefits, income protection, childcare and eldercare facilities and active-labour-market policies—to improve the working and living conditions of minimum-wage earners and their households.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

This first appeared on the Eurofound blog

Pics 5
Carlos Vacas-Soriano

Carlos Vacas-Soriano is a research manager in the employment unit at Eurofound. He works on wage and income inequalities, minimum wages, low pay, temporary employment and employment quality.

You are here: Home / Economy / Minimum wage—yet another gender divide?

Most Popular Posts

Russian soldiers' mothers,war,Ukraine The Ukraine war and Russian soldiers’ mothersJennifer Mathers and Natasha Danilova
IGU,documents,International Gas Union,lobby,lobbying,sustainable finance taxonomy,green gas,EU,COP ‘Gaslighting’ Europe on fossil fuelsFaye Holder
Schengen,Fortress Europe,Romania,Bulgaria Romania and Bulgaria stuck in EU’s second tierMagdalena Ulceluse
income inequality,inequality,Gini,1 per cent,elephant chart,elephant Global income inequality: time to revise the elephantBranko Milanovic
Orbán,Hungary,Russia,Putin,sanctions,European Union,EU,European Parliament,commission,funds,funding Time to confront Europe’s rogue state—HungaryStephen Pogány

Most Recent Posts

reality check,EU foreign policy,Russia Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—a reality check for the EUHeidi Mauer, Richard Whitman and Nicholas Wright
permanent EU investment fund,Recovery and Resilience Facility,public investment,RRF Towards a permanent EU investment fundPhilipp Heimberger and Andreas Lichtenberger
sustainability,SDGs,Finland Embedding sustainability in a government programmeJohanna Juselius
social dialogue,social partners Social dialogue must be at the heart of Europe’s futureClaes-Mikael Ståhl
Jacinda Ardern,women,leadership,New Zealand What it means when Jacinda Ardern calls timePeter Davis

Other Social Europe Publications

front cover scaled Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship
Women Corona e1631700896969 500 Women and the coronavirus crisis
sere12 1 RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound webinar: Making telework work for everyone

Since 2020 more European workers and managers have enjoyed greater flexibility and autonomy in work and are reporting their preference for hybrid working. Also driven by technological developments and structural changes in employment, organisations are now integrating telework more permanently into their workplace.

To reflect on these shifts, on 6 December Eurofound researchers Oscar Vargas and John Hurley explored the challenges and opportunities of the surge in telework, as well as the overall growth of telework and teleworkable jobs in the EU and what this means for workers, managers, companies and policymakers.


WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

The winter issue of the Progressive Post magazine from FEPS is out!

The sequence of recent catastrophes has thrust new words into our vocabulary—'polycrisis', for example, even 'permacrisis'. These challenges have multiple origins, reinforce each other and cannot be tackled individually. But could they also be opportunities for the EU?

This issue offers compelling analyses on the European health union, multilateralism and international co-operation, the state of the union, political alternatives to the narrative imposed by the right and much more!


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

The macroeconomic effects of re-applying the EU fiscal rules

Against the background of the European Commission's reform plans for the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), this policy brief uses the macroeconometric multi-country model NiGEM to simulate the macroeconomic implications of the most relevant reform options from 2024 onwards. Next to a return to the existing and unreformed rules, the most prominent options include an expenditure rule linked to a debt anchor.

Our results for the euro area and its four biggest economies—France, Italy, Germany and Spain—indicate that returning to the rules of the SGP would lead to severe cuts in public spending, particularly if the SGP rules were interpreted as in the past. A more flexible interpretation would only somewhat ease the fiscal-adjustment burden. An expenditure rule along the lines of the European Fiscal Board would, however, not necessarily alleviate that burden in and of itself.

Our simulations show great care must be taken to specify the expenditure rule, such that fiscal consolidation is achieved in a growth-friendly way. Raising the debt ceiling to 90 per cent of gross domestic product and applying less demanding fiscal adjustments, as proposed by the IMK, would go a long way.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ILO advertisement

Global Wage Report 2022-23: The impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power

The International Labour Organization's Global Wage Report is a key reference on wages and wage inequality for the academic community and policy-makers around the world.

This eighth edition of the report, The Impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power, examines the evolution of real wages, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region. The report includes evidence on how wages have evolved through the COVID-19 crisis as well as how the current inflationary context is biting into real wage growth in most regions of the world. The report shows that for the first time in the 21st century real wage growth has fallen to negative values while, at the same time, the gap between real productivity growth and real wage growth continues to widen.

The report analysis the evolution of the real total wage bill from 2019 to 2022 to show how its different components—employment, nominal wages and inflation—have changed during the COVID-19 crisis and, more recently, during the cost-of-living crisis. The decomposition of the total wage bill, and its evolution, is shown for all wage employees and distinguishes between women and men. The report also looks at changes in wage inequality and the gender pay gap to reveal how COVID-19 may have contributed to increasing income inequality in different regions of the world. Together, the empirical evidence in the report becomes the backbone of a policy discussion that could play a key role in a human-centred recovery from the different ongoing crises.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ETUI advertisement

The EU recovery strategy: a blueprint for a more Social Europe or a house of cards?

This new ETUI paper explores the European Union recovery strategy, with a focus on its potentially transformative aspects vis-à-vis European integration and its implications for the social dimension of the EU’s socio-economic governance. In particular, it reflects on whether the agreed measures provide sufficient safeguards against the spectre of austerity and whether these constitute steps away from treating social and labour policies as mere ‘variables’ of economic growth.


DOWNLOAD HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube