Gender-based Earnings Statistics and Report on Equal Pay

According to legislation, enterprises with 35 employees or more, and with groups of employees with at least ten women and ten men doing the same job, must produce gender-based earnings statistics or an equal pay report, in order to create awareness and dialogue about gender-based wage differences. This report is an evaluation of the relevant legislation, which entered into force in 2007.
Only two-thirds of enterprises produce gender-based earnings statistics or reports. More or less all of these produce earnings statistics. It seems that at least one-third of these enterprises have had almost no internal dialogue about the statistics.
The typical explanation as to why enterprises are not adhering to the legislation is ignorance about its existence or about the fact that the enterprise is covered. Some enterprises, moreover, believe there are no wage differences, while others perceive possible wage differences as unproblematic.
The evaluation is based on a questionnaire survey of managers and/or employee representatives at 630 enterprises, and interviews at three enterprises. The evaluation has been commissioned and funded by the Ministry of Employment.