Insee Focus · March 2024 · n° 320

Gender pay gap in 2022 In the private sector, the gender pay gap was around 4% for the same volume of work and job position in 2022

In 2022, women’s average wage income was 23.5% lower than men’s in the private sector. This pay gap reflects differences in the annual volume of work, as women are less often employed during the year and more often work part-time. However, for the same amount of work, women's average salary was 14.9% lower than men’s. Since 1995, wage income inequalities have fallen by 10 points. Differences in the volume of work on the one hand and in full-time equivalent wages on the other hand contributed to this fall.

The differences in pay are mainly explained by the gender distribution of professions:  women do not occupy the same types of jobs and do not work in the same sectors as men, and have less access to the highest paying jobs. For a comparable job, i.e. the same occupation with the same employer, the full-time equivalent wage gap was reduced to 4.0%.

The wage income gap between women and men employees is even more pronounced between parents: mothers work significantly less hours than fathers, but also have lower full-time equivalent wages, and the gap increases with the number of children.