In 2024, the average gross hourly wage for women in Latvia was 13.9% lower than for men, according to preliminary data from the Central Statistical Bureau.
The Bureau notes that the pay gap between men and women has been gradually decreasing over the past four years. In 2024, compared to 2023, the gap narrowed by 2.5 percentage points.
The difference in earnings is influenced by various social and economic factors, such as occupation, job responsibilities, education, age, work experience, the number of hours worked, and structural trends in the labour market. The indicator is calculated without adjusting for these factors, which may explain part of the difference.
In 2024, the smallest gender pay gaps were in public administration (3%), real estate activities (4%), administrative and support service activities (5.3%), and transportation and storage (5.6%). The largest gaps were in arts, entertainment and recreation (33.1%), health and social work (30.7%), financial and insurance activities (29.5%), and information and communication services (24.8%).
In the private sector, the gender pay gap was 5.5 percentage points higher than in the public sector, amounting to 16.1% and 10.6% respectively.
Women working full time earned 19.9% less than men, while among part-time workers the gap was almost half as large at 11.2%.
In terms of age, the smallest difference in hourly pay between men and women was among those under 25 years old (9.1%), while the largest gap was in the 35–44 age group, where women earned 16.8% less than men.