Insee Focus · March 2023 · n° 292

In the private sector, the gender pay gap was around 4% for the same volume of work and job position in 2021

In 2021, the average wage income of women was 24% lower than that of men in the private sector. This pay gap reflects differences in the annual volume of work, as women are less often employed during the year and more often work part-time. However, for the same amount of work, women's average salary was 15% lower than that of men. Since 1995, inequalities in working time and wages have fallen significantly, by 4 and 7 percentage points respectively.

The differences in pay are mainly explained by the gender distribution of occupations: women do not occupy the same types of jobs and do not work in the same sectors as men, and have less access to the highest paying jobs. For a comparable job, i.e. the same occupation for the same employer, the full-time equivalent wage gap was reduced to around 4%.

The wage income gap between women and men employees is even more pronounced between parents: mothers work significantly less hours than fathers, but also have lower full-time equivalent wages, and the gap increases with the number of children.