Gender pay gap in Slovenia is approximately a half of the EU's average. While women in Slovenia earn about 8% less than men, women in the EU earn on average 15% less than their male colleagues, a report by the European Commission says.
Only in Malta and Belgium was the gender pay gap smaller than in Slovenia, according to a Eurostat survey from 2005 that had been included into the report, which was presented in Brussels on Wednesday.
Vladimir Spidla, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities said at the presentation that while girls out-performed boys in schools and more women entered the labour market with a university degree than men, a 15% pay gap persisted. Although sometimes the gap is caused by discrimination, often reasons are hidden. Women do more unpaid work, take care of the household and family, more of them work part time and industries dominated by women are often on a lower pay scale, data shows. Women in Slovenia spend approximately 14 hours a week doing household work, compared to men doing 2 to 3 hours. Meanwhile, in 2006, some 30% of managers in Slovenia were women, which was very close to the EU average of 32%. According to the report, the pay gap increases with age, education and years of service. Differences in pay in the EU are over 30% in the 50-59 age group and 7% for those under 30.
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