Statistics and indicators on women and men
 
Table 5e. Women's wages relative to men's
Last update: June 2009
 
Country or area
Year
 %
Source
Andorra
2007
      71
ARRS
Armenia
2006
      70
LRES
Australia
2006
   d,j 90
LRES
Austria
2003
      62
IR
Azerbaijan
2007
      60
LREC
Bahrain
2007
   a,s 69
IR
Belgium
2006
   d,l 88
LRES
Bermuda
2006
 92
LREC
Botswana
2006
 66
LRES
Brazi
2002
 61
AR
Bulgaria
2005
   n 77
LREC
China, Hong Kong SAR
2007
   a,m,v 63
LFS
China, Macao SAR
2007
 64
LRES
Colombia
2007
   o 60
LFS
Costa Rica
2007
   d,p 70
LFS
Croatia
2006
   q 76
LRES
Cyprus              
2006
   d,r 65
LRES
Czech Republic      
2005
   h,y 65
LRES
Denmark             
2006
   d,s,t 87
LREC
Egypt               
2006
   b,h,k 76
LREC
El Salvador         
2006
 64
LFS
Finland             
2006
   l,dd 84
LRES
France              
2005
   d,mm 82
ARRS
French Polynesia    
2003
      87
AR
Georgia             
2005
      61
LREC
Germany             
2007
   d 76
LRES
Gibraltar           
2007
   c,h,u 81
LREC
Greece              
1998
   a,d,h,k 82
LRES
Hungary             
2006
   w 77
LRES
Iceland             
2007
   nn 71
LRES
Iran, Islamic Republic of 
2002
      90
LRES
Ireland             
2006
   b,h,k,kk 72
LRES
Isle of Man         
2007
   b 62
LRES
Japan               
2007
   hh 60
LRES
Jordan              
2005
 61
LRES
Kazakhstan          
2004
      70
LREC
Latvia              
2007
 77
LRES
Lithuania           
2007
   d,cc 71
LRES
Luxembourg          
2007
   d,h 73
LREC
Madagascar          
2005
   d 85
HS
Malta               
2007
   d,ll 85
LFS
Mexico              
2007
   gg 70
LFS
Mongolia            
2005
 77
LRES
Myanmar             
2005
   a,g,ii 89
LRES
Nepal               
1999
   oo 45
LFS
Netherlands         
2005
   l,bb 83
LRES
New Zealand         
2006
   d,z 82
LRES
Norway              
2007
   l,ff 89
LRES
Occupied Palestinian Territory
2007
   c,ee 53
LFS
Panama              
2006
   d,m,ll 95
LFS
Paraguay            
2007
 86
LFS
Philippines         
2007
   f 91
LFS
Portugal            
2007
 68
LRES
Qatar               
2006
   e 112
LFS
Republic of Korea
2007
   r,k 57
LRES
Romania             
2006
 74
LRES
Saint Helena        
2002
 72
TR
Saint Lucia
2003
   d,h 71
LRES
Singapore           
2007
 65
IR
Sri Lanka           
2007
   a,c,h 94
LRES
Sweden              
2007
   d,h,s,aa 90
LRES
Switzerland         
2006
   jj 77
LRES
Thailand            
2003
   e 75
LFS
Ukraine             
2007
      71
LREC
United Kingdom      
2007
   b,l,pp 75
LRES

Sources:

Calculated by the United Nations Statistics Division based on data published by the International Labour Office in Tables 5A Wages, by economic activity and 5B Wages in manufacturing, available from ILO LABORSTA website, http://laborsta.ilo.org/ (accessed June 2009).

LFS Labour force survey.
HS Household survey.
LREC Labour-related establishment census.
LRES Labour-related establishment survey.
IR Insurance records.
TR Tax records.
AR Administrative reports.
ARRS Administrative records and related sources.

Footnotes:

a
 Data refers to activities classified under major division 3: Manufacturing, as defined in the 1968 International Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC-Rev. 2, 1968).
b
 Refers to earnings per week.
c
 Refers to earnings per day.
d
 Refers to earnings per hour.
e
 Refers to wage rates per month.
f
 Refers to wage rates per day.
g
 Refers to wage rates per hour.
h
 Worker coverage: Wage earners.
i
 Worker coverage: Salaried employees.
j
 Worker coverage: Full-time adult non-managerial employees.
k
 Establishments with 10 or more persons employed.
l
 Worker coverage: Full-time employees.
m
 Median.
n
 Worker coverage: Employees under labour contract.
o
 Excludes armed forces. Persons aged 10 years and over.
p
 Refers to main occupation.
q
 Excludes employees in craft and trade.
r
 Including family allowances and the value of payments in kind. Refers to establishments with 10 or more regular employees.
s
 Private sector.
t
 Excluding young people aged less than 18 years and trainees.
u
 Excluding part-time workers and juveniles.
v
 Including outworkers.
w
 Refers to enterprises with 5 or more employees.
x
 Refers to adult employees. Excluding irregular bonuses and the value of payments in kind.
y
 Enterprises with 20 or more employees.
z
 Establishments with the equivalent of more than 0.5 full-time paid employees. Full-time equivalent employees.
aa
 Excludes holidays, sick-leave and overtime payment.
bb
 Excluding overtime payments. Full time employees only.
cc
 Excluding individual unincorporated enterprises. All employees converted into full-time units.
dd
 Excluding seasonal and end-of-year bonuses.
ee
 Net earnings.
ff
 Only remuneration in cash; excluding overtime payments.
gg
 Persons aged 14 years and over.
hh
 Private sector; establishments with 10 or more regular employees. Regular scheduled cash earnings.
ii
 Regular employees.
jj
 Standardised monthly earnings.
kk
 Wage-earners on adult rates of pay.
ll
 Total employment.
mm
 Including managerial staff and intermediary occupations.
nn
 Full time adult employees.
oo
 Main occupation. Fluctuation in wages due to small sample size.
pp
 Including overtime payments.

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Technical notes:

The indicator presented in this table is the ratio of female wages to male wages in manufacturing, expressed as a percentage. In general, the wage statistics from which the indicator has been calculated refer to average earnings per month per employee (i.e. wage earners and salaried employees). Where this is not the case, it is indicated by a footnote.

This indicator is useful for tracking the extent of gender parity in wages within manufacturing. International comparisons of the wage ratios presented here, however, must be made with great caution. The coverage, definitions and methods of compiling wage statistics differ significantly from country to country. Weekly, daily and monthly earnings are much dependent on variations in hours of work. In addition, statistics of wage rates do not reflect the influence of changes in wage supplements nor the influence of variations in hours of work. Where female workers generally work a much smaller number of hours than male workers, these factors must be kept in mind when interpreting the wage ratio.

The data on average earnings are usually derived from payroll data supplied by a census or a sample of establishments, which often also furnish data on hours of work and on employment. In some cases, average earnings are compiled from labour force surveys or from a variety of administrative sources including social insurance and tax records.