Women’s hourly pay exceeds men’s in Luxembourg

Luxembourg in 2022 was the only EU country where women earned more than men on an hourly basis – but women made less than men when annual salaries and bonuses are taken into consideration.

The gender pay gap in Luxembourg in 2022 stood at -0.7%, an improvement from the previous year, where at -0.2%, it was in favour of women for the first time, the national statistics bureau Statec reported in a study published Thursday.

However, the calculation for the pay gap, based on a European model, “conceals a slightly more complex reality”, the report pointed out.

Though there were fewer women than men among low-income workers – making less than €25 per hour – and more among the average earners – between €25 and €75 – men were far more represented in the high-income category (over €75 a hour), Statec noted.

The extremely high incomes “of a very small percentage of people, who in this case tend to be men”, showed that among high earners, men also tended to earn 27% more than their female counterparts.

Pay gap calculations were based on hourly wages too, which does not take into account that women tended to work 10% less than men on an annual basis, as they are more likely to sign part-time contracts.

A Eurostat study published Thursday showed that more than 30% of women worked part time in Luxembourg during the third quarter of 2023, against less than 10% of men.

Taking annual income as a base showed that men still earned 4.5% more than women, in part because men were more likely to work full time and “receive more important [end-of-year] bonuses than women”, the report said.

Women on average in 2022 earned €72,470 in a year, compared to €75,847 for men. Excluding the bonus, incomes were relatively similar – €63,179 for men and €69,089 for women. Bonuses threw the scales off though, as men received an average yearly bonus of €12,668, nearly €3,300 more than women.