Equal Pay Day 2024 falls on Valentine’s Day, February 14 and highlights the difference in income between men and women when they do the same or work of equal value. And to some extent this is still significant.
Flowers, chocolates, invitations to dinner: Austrian women can rejoice because they will receive rich gifts on Valentine’s Day. In total, the expenditure amounts to approximately 150 million euros.
However, that doesn’t change the fact that women – statistically – work for free until Valentine’s Day. Or the other way around: men only have to start working on February 14 to receive the same income as women at the end of the year.
Difference of approximately 5800 euros per year
The gender pay gap currently stands at 12.4 percent, up from 13 percent the year before. That is 45 calendar days that women work unpaid. On average, this results in a current difference in Austria of approximately 5,800 euros per year. Extrapolated over a working life of forty years, a woman could afford a condominium with this money.
At the same time, the lower income reduces the pension basis. As a result, women’s pensions are on average 37 percent or 935 euros lower than those of men.
In Vorarlberg up to 21.1 percent lower wages
Compared to other European countries, there is a large pay gap between women and men in Austria. Statistics Austria’s figures also allow regional comparisons within Germany, because the federal state determines the actual level of the income difference. While the wage gap in Vienna is relatively small at 3.2 percent, in Vorarlberg there is a gap of 21.1 percent.
“Make sure the wage gap is closed”
AK President Renate Anderl: “Flowers and chocolate are tasty, but what women really need is fair pay, closing the pay gap and preconditions that guarantee equal opportunities in all areas.”
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
