Gender pay gap still observed

According to provisional Central Statistical Bureau (CSB) data, average hourly earnings of women and men still differ, although a downward trend may be observed over a longer period. In 2025, the unadjusted gender pay gap ¹ stood at 16.8 %, widening by 2.9 percentage points compared with 2024.

The gap in earnings of males and females is affected by various social and economic factors – the number of men and women in a specific economic activity, their occupation and work duties, educational attainment, age, service increment, number of hours worked, as well as labour supply and demand trends and structural changes in the labour market. The indicator is calculated without excluding the effect of these factors, which might explain the reasons for the gap.

Across economic activities, the smallest unadjusted gender pay gaps were recorded in public administration (3.7 %), transportation and storage (4.1 %), real estate activities (4.4 %), education (5.2 %), mining and quarrying (6.0 %), and administrative and support service activities (6.2 %). 

The largest gaps were observed in arts, entertainment, and recreation (35.1 %), human health and social work activities (30.5 %), financial and insurance activities (29.5 %), as well as information and communication (25.8 %). 

* All activities in the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community (NACE Rev. 2), except for agriculture, forestry, fishing and public administration. 

In terms of sectoral breakdown, unadjusted gender pay gap in private sector was 5.3 percentage points larger than in public (17.6 % and 12.3 %, respectively). 

Women in full-time employment earned 14.3 % less than men; however, in 2025 the gap among full-time employees narrowed by 5.6 percentage points (19.9 % in 2024). Among those in part-time jobs, the gap widened from 11.2 % to 18.8 % (by 7.6 percentage points).

As regards the age, the smallest gender gap in hourly earnings – 9.3 % – was recorded in the age group under 25, while the largest in the age groups 45–54 and 35–44, where women on average earned 18.0 % less per hour than men. 

Unadjusted gender pay gap by age group

(per cent)

Reference metadata about statistics for hourly and monthly gender pay gap are available in the official statistics portal metadata sections Gender pay gap, hourly earnings and Gender pay gap, monthly gross

Methodological information

¹ The unadjusted gender pay gap is defined as the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of male and female employees expressed as a percentage of the average gross hourly earnings of male employees.

European Union (EU) methodology sets that unadjusted gender pay gap is calculated from the Structure of Earnings Survey results. The survey is conducted once every four years, with the last one carried out in 2022. In years when the survey is not conducted, the estimate is based on the State Revenue Service data and statistical report about the first quarter. The time series between the last two surveys are recalculated when the information from the latest EU Structure of Earnings Survey becomes available.

Unadjusted gender pay gap is one of the EU sustainable development indicators calculated based on the Eurostat methodology and used for international comparisons. The indicator is used to monitor progress towards the gender equality.

CSB also publishes a monthly gender pay gap that is an indicator used for annual comparisons of earnings received by both genders in Latvia. This indicator differs from the unadjusted gender pay gap in terms of both calculation methodology and target population.

Media requests:
Public Relations Section
Email: media@csp.gov.lv
Phone: +371 27880666

More information on the data:
Lija Luste
Business Statistics Methodology Section
Email: Lija.Luste@csp.gov.lv
Phone: +371 67366917