Malta with lowest gender pay gap in EU

Women in Malta are the most fairly paid in the EU, at least when compared to their male colleagues.

According to the 2007 Equality Report published yesterday by the European Commission in Brussels, the difference in pay on the island between men and women in 2005 stood at just four per cent, the lowest level of the 27 EU member states.

Based on the difference between male and female average gross hourly earnings as a percentage of men's average gross hourly earnings, the average pay gap in the EU 27 in 2005 was 15 per cent.

The highest difference - up to 25 per cent - was in Estonia. Germany, one of the most advanced economies in the EU, also has a huge difference between the take home pay for men and women. On average, women in Germany earn 24 per cent less.

The results attained by Malta are, however, overshadowed by the low levels of women in employment.

In this category, Malta ranks at the bottom. As the average employment rate in the EU 27 reached 56.3 per cent in 2005, Malta's is still trailing at 33.7 per cent.

Between 2000 and 2005, the average female employment rate in the EU rose by almost three percentage points. In Malta the increase amounted to a mere 0.6 per cent.

Addressing a press conference in Brussels, European Employment Commissioner Vladimir Spidla said that out of eight million jobs created in the EU since 2000, six million were filled by women and 59 per cent of university graduates are now female.

"While women are outperforming men in educational achievement and boosting Europe's overall employment rate, they are still underpaid. This has to be rectified," he said.

The report will be submitted to EU leaders at the spring European Council starting today.