According to Statistics Estonia, in 2023, the gross hourly earnings of female employees were 13.1% smaller than the earnings of male employees. The gender pay gap decreased by 4.6 percentage points year on year.
Last year, the average gross hourly earnings were 10.27 euros for women and 11.82 euros for men. The largest gap between men’s and women’s earnings was recorded in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (25.5%), followed by information and communication (25.1%) and financial and insurance activities (24.9%).
There were four economic activities where women earned more than men:
agriculture, forestry and fishing (gender pay gap -1.1%), professional, scientific and technical activities (-2.4%), transportation and storage (-5.6%), and other service activities (-18.4%). In agriculture, forestry and fishing, women’s average gross hourly earnings were 8.49 euros, while men’s average hourly earnings were 8.39 euros.
In professional, scientific and technical activities, the average gross hourly earnings were 13.95 euros for women and 13.61 euros for men. Female employees in transportation and storage earned 9.96 euros per hour on average, compared to 9.43 euros earned by male employees in this activity. In other service activities, the average gross hourly earnings were 8.90 euros for women and 7.52 euros for men.
Liina Kuusik, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that the gender pay gap in Estonia has decreased by 11.7 percentage points since 2013. “In 2023, compared with 2022, the gender pay gap decreased the most in other service activities and increased the most in administrative and support service activities.”
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