site.btaGender Wage Gap Persists, Trade Union Says

Gender wage gap persists, according to data from the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB). On March 8, International Women’s Day, experts say that despite getting narrower, the gap is still too wide.

In 2020 women in this country were paid 12.7 per cent less than men on average. In 2019 the gap was 14.1 per cent. Despite the improved indicator, more than half of the women here work in low-paid industries, says CITUB President Plamen Dimitrov.

Although the gap is narrowing over the years, it gets wider with the workers’ age. Workers under 25 experience a relatively small gender wage gap of 6.6 per cent. It gets more significant in the 35-44 age group: 17.6 per cent, said Deputy Director of the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research with the CITUB Violeta Ivanova.

The average wage women are paid is by 265 leva lower than that of men. Around 50 per cent of women work in low-paid industries, where the average salary varies between 900 and 1,250 leva, more than 25 per cent lower than the average for this country.

The latest data (from December 2021) for the average gross wage suggests that men dominate two out of the three highest paid industries. The wage gap remains wide.

The average salary paid to women working in the information and communication industry was 34 per cent (or 1,549 leva) lower than the salary of men. Women in the mining and quarrying industry on average were paid 20 per cent less than their male colleagues.

Predominantly women work in two out of the three lowest paid industries. Women in the accommodation and food service industry are paid 22 per cent less than men; in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry: 21 per cent less.

The average pension women over 65 from EU Member States receive is 30 per cent lower than the pension of men. The same figure here for 2020 was 23.6 per cent: men’s average pension was 546 leva, while women’s was 417 leva. Fifty-three per cent of women and 40.1 per cent of men pensioners are at risk of poverty.

The present situation creates conditions for growing digital inequalities, which is a threat to jobs and employment. Women’s careers are more likely to be hindered by family obligations, which undoubtedly has a negative effect on women’s income, the trade union says.