Assessment of women’s situation on the labour market in EU countries

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse and evaluate the changes in women’s situation on the labour market of European Union countries in the years 2005–2018. The analysis focused on the economic activity of women and men and the following selected aspects of the labour market: the employment and unemployment rates and the relation between women and men’s wages. A hypothesis that women’s situation on the labour market improved, and the pay discrimination against women shrank in EU countries, has been formulated. The study utilised statistical data from the Eurostat Data Base. The evaluation of women’s situation was performed by means of a synthetic measure whose values were determined using the non-standard formula. That measure served as the basis for the linear ordering of EU countries according to the situation of women on the labour market. The study demonstrated that overall, women’s situation on the labour market improved in most EU countries in the analysed period. In all EU countries, the employment rate of women remains lower than the employment rate of men, and additionally, the former strongly varies throughout EU countries. The indicator which differentiates between the women’s and men’s labour markets to a large extent is the percentage of persons employed part-time. Part time employment is more popular in Western European countries and concerns women to a much greater extent than men. The study indicates that the levelling of women’s and men’s wages is taking place; nevertheless, women’s wages in nearly half of EU countries still do not exceed 80% of men’s average wages.