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Trainees in Cologne: Women often have jobs with lower hourly wages

Photo: Oliver Berg/picture alliance/dpa

According to the Federal Statistical Office, three out of four full-time women earn less than men - and in some cases very significantly.

For 40 percent of the women affected, their earnings are at least 30 percent lower.

This emerges from figures that Sahra Wagenknecht, member of the Bundestag, asked the statistics office.

A total of 34 percent of the women affected receive up to 30 percent less.

26 percent of women working full-time earn as much or more than men.

The gap is also reflected in the official information on average gross earnings per hour.

Nationwide in 2023, the average value for men was 26.63 euros and for women it was 22.54 euros.

The differences are explained, among other things, by the fact that many of the jobs often carried out by women have low hourly wages.

Wagenknecht criticizes inequality.

"The fact that 74 percent of women in full-time work earn less than men on average is completely unacceptable," she told the dpa news agency.

A gap of more than four euros per hour on average is "an injustice that does not fit into the 21st century."

Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are at the bottom

It is not gender or language rules that are crucial for gender equality, but wages.

“Here the traffic lights and especially the labor minister have failed across the board,” said Wagenknecht.

"It's not enough to give a reminder once a year on Women's Day and shoot nice social media clips."

Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg are at the bottom of the list among the federal states: there, the proportion of full-time employed women with the same or higher wages is below the average at 22 and 21 percent.

And the proportion with at least 30 percent lower wages is 45 percent, higher than nationwide.

It is the other way around in the eastern federal states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony: the proportion of women earning the same or better is higher here than average;

the proportion of particularly poorly paid women is lower.

The statistics office's figures refer to 6.5 million full-time employed women nationwide.

Public administration, defense, social security and companies with fewer than ten employees are not included.

ssu/dpa-AFX