GGE02
Gender equality: employment and earnings
Equal earnings are one of the key gender equality indicators, since they serve as the basis for benefits and pensions received in future. Regardless the fact that gender equality in the EU is stipulated by several regulatory enactments and Latvian legislation provides for equal rights to both genders, gender inequality in the labour market may be observed.
Employment rate
In 2024, employment rate among men was 4.7 percentage points higher than that among women – 66.4 % and 61.7 %, respectively. EU average indicator is higher among men as well. Employment rate among women in Latvia was 4.8 percentage points and among men 0.3 percentage points lower than the EU average.
Although Latvian legislation enhances gender equality in the labour market, the greatest gender gap in employment may be observed among population aged 25-34 (7.8 percentage points).
Earnings, occupations and economic activities
Women more commonly are employed in lower salaried economic activities as well as sector of national economy having lower average wages and salaries but even in the same occupations and professions, there is a wage gap.
Plant and machine operator and assembler was the most popular occupation among men (16.1 %) followed by craft and related trades worker (16.4 %), whereas among women those were professionals (24.9 %) and service and sales workers (22.5 %).
*Occupations based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations. Teachers – senior specialists in education. Accountants – occupations classified under codes 2411, 2413, 3313, and 4311. Nursing professionals – occupations classified under codes 2221 and 3221 (till 2024). Lawyers and judges – occupations classified under codes 2611, 2612, and 2619. Software developers – occupations classified under codes 2512, 2513, 2514, and 2519
In 2024, the average gross hourly earnings of Latvian women were by 13.9 % lower than those of men, i.e., for each euro a male employee earned, a female employee earned 84 cents. This is the smallest pay gap observed in recent years, with the biggest pay gap being in 2020 (23.2 %). The smallest gender pay gap may be observed among young people under 25 years (9.1 %) and 65+ (11.2 %).
The biggest difference is in the age group 35-44 years (16.8 %). Although the number of employed persons is similar, 4.4 thousand more men work as managing directors and company managers, while 4.6 thousand more women work as shop assistants and salespeople. For young people, the pay gap is smaller because the biggest gaps in employment are in low-paid occupations - the biggest gap between women's and men's employment is in occupations such as salespersons and assistants, which are more often performed by women, followed by waitresses and health care assistants, while the opposite proportion is among the workers.
Industry, construction, transportation, and storage sectors are economic activities more popular among men, whereas trade as well as education sectors are the most popular among women. The largest share of women may be observed in education (83.5 %), while the largest share of men - in construction (92.1 %).
To address pay inequalities, the Directive 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms was adopted on 10 May 2023.
The Directive sets out minimum requirements to promote equal pay and prevent discrimination by introducing greater pay transparency and stronger enforcement mechanisms. In Latvia, it entered into force on 6 June 2023. Other Member States must transpose its requirements into national law by 7 June 2026.
Comparison of full-time and part-time employees shows that in Latvia earnings of part-time employed women are 9.3 % lower than that of men, while among full-time workers gender pay gap reaches 19.5 %.
In 2023 the largest unadjusted gender pay gap was observed in information and communication – 33.5 %, financial and insurance activities – 30.6 %, trade – 27.8 % and arts, entertainment and recreation (denoting that women on average earn 27.6 % less per hour than men).
Unadjusted gender pay gap exceeding 20 % was registered in the following economic activities (where it varied between 20.1 % and 25.0 %): professional, scientific and technical activities; mining and quarrying; manufacturing; as well as administrative and support service activities.
Whereas in construction, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, as well as public administration and defence women earned more than men.
Women take leading positions in decision-making occupations less often than men. However, compared to the EU, Latvia takes the highest rankings in terms of share of female managers. In 2023, women accounted for 53.5 % of the employees in occupying manager positions. Regardless of the fact that the indicator is comparatively high, women constitute only one fourth (23.9 %) of the members of the board of the largest Latvian companies.
Women are less likely to be the managers of agricultural holdings. In 2023, 43.8 % of all managers were women. The largest share of male-agricultural holding managers was in the age group 25-34, where 73.4 % of holdings are managed by men. The only age group with a predominance of female-agricultural holding managers are in the age group 65 years and older (52.9 %), who manage more agricultural holdings than men in almost all regions of Latvia. Male-agricultural holding managers are more likely than women to have practical experience in agriculture (64.9 %) basic agricultural training (68.6 %) and vocational or professional education in agriculture (56.4 %). On the other hand, women managers more likely than men have higher agricultural education (50.4 %). Among organic agricultural holding managers 34.5 % were women. Slightly more than a third of women-organic agricultural holding managers were in the age group 55-64 (35.2%). Slightly less (23.4 %) in the age group 45-54 years, but the least (0.3 %) in the age group 18-24 years.
Women less frequently than men are employed in occupations requiring temporary work abroad. The total number of employed inhabitants of Latvia fulfilling work duties in another country account for 10.7 thousand or 1.2 %. Out of the number, men constitute 94.7 % and women only 5.3 %. Occupational breakdown of the data shows that ships' deck officers, pilots and engineers comprise 31.4 %, ships' deck crews and related workers 13.9 %, house builders and building construction labourers 9.5 %, and building and related electricians 3.1 %. Other occupations are less common among those sending their staff for work abroad.
In February 2024, a study "Novatore Gender Equality Barometer" was conducted, where it was found that 67 % of men believe that there is equality in pay in Latvia, while only 29 % of respondents think so among women. In the division by age groups, it can be observed that with the increase in age, the opinion on pay equality also changes. At the age of 18-29, 74 % of men and 34 % of women believe that pay equality exists, but at the age of 50-65, only 61 % of men and 26 % of women believe that there is pay equality. It is possible to conclude that, along with the expansion of life experience, the opinion about this aspect of equality also becomes more negative.
Overall, 70 % of men and 56 % of women believe that there is equality in career choice, while 71 % of men and 41 % of women believe that there is equality in career development. Also, the study asked whether respondents believe that there is equality in leadership positions in companies and other organizations (e.g. management, board, council) and concluded that 74 % of men and 44 % of women believe that there is equality.
A strong influence of stereotypes was observed when respondents were asked about the suitability of positions for gender. Although the majority of respondents (81 %) indicated that the position of senior manager is equally appropriate for both women and men, 17 % believe that it is more appropriate for men and only 1 % that it is more appropriate for a woman.
Unemployment rate
Unemployment rate among women is lower than among men – 5.8 % and 8.0 % (or that of men is 2.2 percentage points higher) in 2024.
Unemployment rate among Latvian women was 0.4 percentage points lower than the EU average, while that among Latvian men was 2.3 percentage points higher.
Part-time workers
In 2023, part-time work (i.e., less than 40 hours per week) was done by one tenth (10.2 %) of the employed women and twice as few men (5.6 %). In the EU, in turn, 29.2 % of women and 9.4 % of men worked part time in 2023. The largest share of part-time working women was recorded in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria, while the smallest in Bulgaria.
Sometimes part-time employment is the only choice – inability to find a full-time job was the second main reason mostly mentioned for working part-time by 25.4 % of men and 24.4 % of women.
Migration of working-age population
Greatest emigration wave started during the post-crisis years, when inhabitants of Latvia went abroad due to financial difficulties. People of working age from 20 to 44 constituted almost half of the emigrants in 2024 (43.4 %), however all working-age inhabitants (16-64) made up 74.1 % of all emigrants.
In 2024, men accounted for 50.5 % and women for 49.5 % of all emigrants. More than half (53.9 %) of the female emigrants were at childbearing age (aged 15–49).
More than half of immigrants in 2024 were men. Their number exceeded the number of women - 7.3 thousand men (53.5 % of immigrants), while the number of women was less than half - 6.4 thousand women or 46.5 %. Among the arrivals aged 20 to 44 years, 51.6 % were women and 48.4 % were men, but of working-age in total (16-64) – 44.6% were women and 55.4% were men.
Gender Equality Index – work
Latvian Gender Equality Index2 calculated by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in the domain Work, which measures the extent to which women and men can benefit from equal access to employment and good working conditions, is assessed with 77.5 points, which is slightly above the EU average (74.2). In the domain Money, which measures gender inequalities in access to financial resources and women’s and men’s economic situation, Latvia is given 69.6 points, which is 13.8 points below the EU ranking (83.4). The low ranking is related to both gender pay gap and higher poverty risk among women.
Methodological explanations:
1 The indicator is estimated based on the Eurostat methodology using average gross hourly earnings of males as a base. The estimate covers all economic activities (except for agriculture, forestry, fishing and public administration) and all enterprises employing 10 persons or more. The average gender wage gap is calculated without excluding a range of influencing factors which would allow to explain the reasons behind the gap. They can be objective, for example, women work in sectors and professions having low average wage, or they may indicate to the discrimination in the labour market.
2 The index rating varies between 1 and 100, where 1 stands for absolute gender inequality and 100 for full gender equality.
Data source
Official statistics portal:
NBL030 Employment rate by sex
NBL080 Employed persons by occupation and sex
NBL040 Employed persons by economic activity and sex (NACE Rev.2)
NBB010 Unemployment rate by sex
NBL100 Share of part-time workers in total number of employed persons
NBL110 Reasons for working part-time
Eurostat database:
LFST_HHEREDCH Employment rate by sex, age group, number of children and age of children
EARN_GR_GPGR2 Gender pay gap
EIGE:
Share of females in boards of the largest enterprises
Gender Equality Index, domain Work
Gender Equality Index, domain Money
United Nations:
United Nations 2020 publication Latvia: influence of the presence of children in the household on the employment of women and men