Newly hired women earn around 15 percent less than men in the same job and with similar qualifications. According to a study by the Nuremberg Institute for Labor and Occupational Research (IAB), almost half of this wage gap can be explained by application behavior: women apply less often to companies with higher wages and more often to those with lower wages.
“Their application rate at high-wage companies was more than 25 percentage points lower than that of men,” said IAB researcher Benjamin Lochner on Monday. “For the ten percent of companies with the lowest wages, an average of around 55 percent women and 45 percent men applied.”
The study cites flexibility requirements, which usually increase with pay, as an important reason for this imbalance. Higher-paying positions therefore often require longer commuting distances to the place of work, more flexibility in working hours, more frequent business trips and changing places of work – and the higher the flexibility requirements, the higher the proportion of men among the applicants. According to the IAB, mothers have the greatest loss of earnings compared to men and childless women.
“Better compatibility of work and family, for example through more flexible working models and more childcare options, as well as a fairer division of care work between both parents could increase individual flexibility, which in turn could have a positive effect on application behavior and earning potential,” emphasized Lochner . (AFP)
